NHTSA Confirms That Toyota Black Box Data Points To Driver Error… Again

Edward Niedermeyer
by Edward Niedermeyer

This isn’t so much a news item as a “Congress finally figured it out” item. A preliminary report by the National Research Council, recently revealed to congress, shows that of 58 Toyota “black box” event data recorders from crashes which occurred during the recall scandal

35 showed that at the moment of impact, the driver hadn’t depressed the brake pedal at all. Fourteen more showed partial braking, while nine showed the brake depressed at the “last second” before the crash.

There were a handful of other results where the brake was pressed early and let go, or in which both the gas and brake pedals were pressed at the same time. There also was one case of pedal entrapment by a floor mat.

In five cases, the electronic recording device failed to work.

The WSJ [sub] notes that the investigation is ongoing, and that no official conclusions have been drawn, but that the finding vindicates an earlier report for which the WSJ had taken mysterious flack. For a complete look at the NRC-NHTSA study, and why it is highly unlikely to ever find a “ghost in the machine” in Toyota’s electronic throttles, check out TTAC’s review of the pre-study NHTSA-NRC presentation.

Edward Niedermeyer
Edward Niedermeyer

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  • Z71_Silvy Z71_Silvy on Aug 11, 2010

    I told everybody that this Toyota SUA was nothing more than media over-hype. Sure, I got lambasted for it...but the fact is...once again, I was right and Toyota suffered dearly.

  • Carquestions Carquestions on Aug 11, 2010

    Somedude - it's very flattering to know that people think Toyota has in some way shape or form paid me for something I did. The fact is they have not. I work in the automotive industry, not for it, a concept the paranoid delusional are unwilling or unable to comprehend.

  • Bill Safreed Bill Safreed on Aug 11, 2010

    No electronic bugs? Let me show you something, it's my shocked face.... Wahhaaaaaaaa! (love those E-Trade babies!)

  • Porschespeed Porschespeed on Aug 21, 2010

    Still waiting for one, just one, dataset that proves any Toyota has a problem beyond the operator. Just one... This is as pathetic as the Audi 5000 Inquisition. Nonsense from day one.

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