HUFF POST / AOL: Safety Research and Strategies, which provides research and analysis of motor vehicle and product safety issues, today published a report critical of the government after an extensive review of documents recently released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the NASA Engineering and Safety Center. The report claims to show how malfunctions in Toyota’s electronics can cause unintended acceleration in vehicles.
Among its other findings:
• The NASA report found scenarios in which an engine speed can be increased, RPMs can surge and “the throttle can be opened to various degrees in contradiction to the driver’s command,” contradicting Toyota’s main defense in previous investigations of unintended acceleration.
• The government reports were not “the products of independent and disinterested investigators. They have been directed by an agency that has exonerated Toyota’s electronics in the past and has relied solely on the automaker’s representations… Toyota was heavily involved in guiding the research of both reports.”… (more)
