Page 111 - Toyota Under Fire

TOYOT A UNDER FIRE

accelerator. The error was not in the design but in the drivers’ be-
havior—a cause that is known as “pedal misapplication.”
The facts weren’t enough to prevent huge damage to the Audi
brand. It took more than a decade for the company to recover
its position in the U.S. market. The blaming of Audi for drivers’
mistakes did lead to one positive, the development of the shift
interlock. This system prevents a car from being shifted from
park into drive unless the driver has her foot on the brake. The
system eliminates the danger from one particular type of pedal
misapplication. Audi developed the system as a response to the
false accusations that its vehicles were dangerous; eventually shift
interlocks were required on all new vehicles to prevent children
from being able to shift vehicles out of park.
However, complaints of cars acting on their own have con-
tinued. They have affected every manufacturer in every era, often
leading to lawsuits. For example, Chrysler’s Jeep Grand Chero-
kee has been dogged with hundreds of complaints of SUA, and in
2006 the New York attorney general called on the NHTSA for a
“full-gear federal investigation.” Even in 2010, after several com-
plete redesigns of the Grand Cherokee, there are claims of SUA
unique to that vehicle that are bizarrely associated with driving
through car washes.* And while plenty of quality and safety de-
fects have been identified, leading to recalls by every manufac-
turer, including Toyota (the most recalls across all automakers
ever were in 2004, when 30.8 million vehicles were recalled in the
United States in hundreds of separate recalls), according to various
auto industry experts we interviewed, including Jeremy Anwyl;
Edward Niedermeyer, editor-in-chief of The Truth about Cars, a
* See, for instance, this article about Jeep Grand Cherokees and car washes
from the Connecticut Carwash Association: http://www.wewashctcars.com
/index.cfm?fuseaction=feature.display&feature_id=3271.

80