On the heels of their Sudden Acceleration Recalls, Toyota Motor Corp. is under for stopping matters for the Prius, Toyotas popular hybrid. According to Ray LaHood, Transportation Secretary, Transportation officials will set about an inquiry after accounts were acquired that the Japanese authorities has started an investigation concerning brake malfunction charges, according to the Japan Automobile Dealers Association.
Reported by a charge registered with National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA): My 2010 Toyota Prius has a serious braking problem, the car lunges forward after (I) apply my brakes over a bumpy surface. This is very unexpected and luckily no one was in front of me otherwise I would have hit them. This already happened several times, took my car to the dealer and no solution, I dont know what to do with a brand new (car) like this. There are many complaints with similar descriptions around problems when encountering even minor bumps and potholes with the 2010 Prius.
This ongoing matter is on top of Toyotas recall of 3.8 million automobiles in Nov. ‘09 to fix gas pedals and computer software to address what has been reported as sudden acceleration troubles, which was pursued by the most recent sudden acceleration recall on January 21, 2010 when Toyota declared a recall for 2.3 million automobiles. Reported by a USA article titled “100 Toyota drivers filed complaints before recall”, there were over 100 charges filed prior to Toyota taking action.
Of Late, Ray LaHood made assertions which question Toyotas follow through on the sudden acceleration affair. According to Secretary LaHood, “Today, Toyota is apparently taking the right steps to address these safety issues. Unfortunately it took much effort to get to this point.” While at a Congressional hearing on Feb. 3rd, the Transportation Secretary stated that drivers of recalled Toyotas should end driving the autos until the autos are fixed.
And now Toyota documents, which Toyota is attempting to preserve from the public may indicate a potential cover up. A former Toyota attorney, Dimitrios Biller, as part of his legal complaint against Toyota has alleged that Toyota has hidden safety evidence involving rollover cases. In Dec., Biller gave notice Toyota that he would render a complete replica of the documents he possessed to the Los Angeles Times. Toyota replied by asking a CA arbitrator to obstruct Biller from rendering the papers to anyone. If Toyota has naught to cover up in the rollover suits and has provided another lawyer the precise written documents that Biller holds, as it has proposed, what does it have to conceal?
These current series of results, the Prius braking problem as well as the departed attorney intimating that Toyota concealed papers, coupled with the Transportation Secretarys notices regarding the car makers treatment of the sudden acceleration recall are fetching a lot of oversight on Toyota, questioning the car makers reliability. Will Toyota be able to regenerate its reputation?
