Toyota owners have filed complaints that their vehicles suddenly accelerated after dealerships made repairs to fix the problem previously acknowledged in a national recall.

Could the floor mat and accelerator pedal mechanic fix not be the problem?

If this is proven to be true, this could be a severe blow to Toyota’s public perception on their ability to diagnose and fix technical problems with their vehicles.   I am sure that Toyota executives and engineers are looking at these claims to see if in fact the repairs were done properly.

Many have speculated that the sudden acceleration problem was never a mechanical problem and that something in the cars electronics was the cause.  We will keep you posted on recent developments as this story unfolds.

Toyota dealers across the county have started the massive recall repair process and in fact Toyota sales have started to see an upward swing from falling 9% in February.  According to Checked Flag Toyota, “Toyota brand enthusiasts continue to purchase Toyota cars.  Toyota has built a strong reputation for building reliable cars that will not evaporate because of the recent recalls.  The 9% drop in February reflects the temporary halt in sales that Toyota mandated to fix and new cars that were on dealer lots.”

LA Times Breaks Story

According to a LA Times article:

At least seven complaints, filed in the last two weeks with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, allege that after the recall service to modify pedals and replace floor mats the cars still surged out of control.

Although the allegations are unverified by the agency, they are a worrying sign that the nearly 10 million recall notices issued by Toyota may not fully address the problem of unintended acceleration — which some believe is caused by problems in the electronic throttle system, rather than mechanical issues involving pedals.

NHTSA has said it will review Toyota electronics to see whether they are a potential cause, and the automaker has commissioned a private study of its throttle system.

The safety agency said that it had begun to investigate the new reports of recurring sudden acceleration on Tuesday. “NHTSA has already started contacting consumers about these complaints to get to the bottom of the problem and to make sure Toyota is doing everything possible to make its vehicles safe,” said David Strickland, NHTSA administrator.

“There is already doubt out there that the solutions Toyota has put forward really fix the problem of unintended acceleration,” said Aaron Bragman, auto industry analyst at IHS Global Insight. He cautioned, however, that the complaints should be thoroughly investigated before definitive conclusions are drawn.

In one report, the owner of a 2010 Camry that was repaired Feb. 12 in Michigan said the car accelerated up a snowbank five days later. It had received special brake override software as part of the recall, the complaint said.

“Had the incident happened one minute earlier, I would have been in a high car/pedestrian area and would not have been able to avoid an accident,” the anonymous consumer wrote. “The fix done by Toyota is not the fix for the acceleration problem.”

Tags: sudden acceleration, toyota recall, toyota repair flaw, toyota repairs