The Empire Strikes Back: NHTSA Says Harrison Crash Was Driver Error, Japanese Police Recommends Charges Against Prius Driver
Black box data in New York and Japan shows that crashing Prius drivers had their feet on the wrong pedals and wrongly blamed their cars.
In Harrison, NY, the NHTSA declared that the cause of the Prius incident was driver error. “Computer data from a Toyota Prius that crashed in suburban New York City show that at the time of the accident the throttle was open and the driver was not applying the brakes,” U.S. safety officials said to Associated Press.
NHTSA said information from the car’s computer systems indicates there was no application of the brakes and the throttle was fully open. The NHTSA “did not elaborate,” says AP, but the conclusions are clear: Someone’s foot was on the gas instead on the brakes.
The local Journal News learned that the disclosure did not please Harrison’s acting police chief Capt. Anthony Marraccini, who felt that the Feds are treading on his turf: “It’s disturbing to me that any information was released without the consultation of the Harrison Police Department,” Marraccini said. “We have done everything to protect the integrity of the investigation and Toyota.”
He said his probe was not over and driver error had not been established. He also complained that Toyota wouldn’t give him the tools to read the black box of the Prius.
“You can’t open it, you can’t read it, you can’t do anything with it,” Marraccini said, referring to the recorder.
Meanwhile in Japan, police of the Chiba prefecture, northeast of Tokyo, recommends that criminal charges are brought against a driver who claimed a brake failure had caused his Toyota Prius to crash into another car in the town of Matsudo. Two people aboard that car were slightly injured in the accident.
Again, data from the event recorder in the Prius showed that the brakes were working properly, Japanese police said today.
According to today’s Nikkei, “the accident in Matsudo led the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport and Tourism to instruct Toyota to conduct checks on the Prius’ brake system. Later, Toyota announced a recall to address a glitch in the Prius’ antilock brake system, which causes a momentary lag in brake function when driving slowly on bumpy or slippery roads.”
Bertel Schmitt comes back to journalism after taking a 35 year break in advertising and marketing. He ran and owned advertising agencies in Duesseldorf, Germany, and New York City. Volkswagen A.G. was Bertel's most important corporate account. Schmitt's advertising and marketing career touched many corners of the industry with a special focus on automotive products and services. Since 2004, he lives in Japan and China with his wife <a href="http://www.tomokoandbertel.com"> Tomoko </a>. Bertel Schmitt is a founding board member of the <a href="http://www.offshoresuperseries.com"> Offshore Super Series </a>, an American offshore powerboat racing organization. He is co-owner of the racing team Typhoon.
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This could get very interesting very quickly... If the car owner has a lot of money and is determined to prove it was not the housekeeper, that car is going to get torn down to every bolt, nut, and washer. Rich people aren't like you and me.
Bertel, good point about the 52 deaths. I went back and read the specific articles where that was reported, and yes they are saying that certain deaths were "attributed" to Toyota unintended acceleration by individuals posting complaints on NHSTA's website. I'm very disappointed in Toyota's responses to this issue and I find their efforts to blame the driver offensive because in January my beloved Toyota 4Runner went into high speed acceleration on its own, so I know that it happens. I also know that there are hundreds of complaints by other 4Runner owners of the same issue, but not a single 4Runner has been recalled to date. I've since gotten rid of the vehicle and will never own another Toyota. I continue to monitor the issue because I believe that Toyotas will continue to have these events until they fully admit the scope of the problem and find and implement the necessary solutions. In the meantime I fully expect that there will be more accidents, more injuries and more deaths while a great car company dithers over its own corporate culture.