Runaway Prius: Police come to driver's rescue after Toyota accelerates out of control

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Police were forced to rescue a motorist whose Toyota accelerated out of control along a motorway in California, in another blow for the car giant in the wake of its massive safety recall.

Highway police shepherded the driver to safety when he called for help after his Toyota Prius accelerated out of control at speeds of up to 90 miles per hour.

James Sikes, 61, said he couldn't slow down for more than 30 miles along a motorway in San Diego after his accelerator stuck.
He eventually cruised to safety after a police car pulled alongside and told him to use the emergency and regular brakes and turn off the runaway car’s engine.

‘I pushed the gas pedal to pass a car and it did something kind of funny,’ said Mr Sikes. ‘It jumped and it just stuck there. As it was going, I was trying the brakes. It wasn’t stopping,’ he added.

A pair of emergency calls spanning 23 minutes detailed the harrowing experience. Sikes sounds panicked at times as he tells a dispatcher about a stuck accelerator.

The dispatcher, Leighann Parks, repeatedly tells Sikes to throw the car into neutral and turn off the ignition. Sikes often didn't respond to her instructions.

'My car can't slow down,' Sikes tells her. At one point, Parks asks if he had put the car into neutral, and Sikes responds, 'I'm trying to control the car!'
Toyota was sending an investigator to look into the incident, which happened on this afternoon.

The sudden acceleration problem is at the centre of the Toyota scandal and has been linked to as many as 52 deaths in the US.

As the Japanese can manufacturer tries to fix the faults and wavering public confidence, it is facing a growing number of lawsuits linked to the recall - that could total £2billion.

At least 89 class action suits have been filed in US courts claiming the scandal has slashed the value of Toyota vehicles.

Analysts claim the number of Toyota owners claiming economic damage as a result of the recalls could rise to about six million.

Estimates that the cases may cost the embattled company £2billion do not include potential payouts for wrongful death and injury cases, which could reach in the tens of millions each.


The lost value lawsuits ‘are more scary for Toyota than the cases where people actually got injured,’ said expert Tom Baker, a University of Pennsylvania law professor.

‘A super big injury case would be $20million. But you could have millions of individual car owners who could each be owed $1,000. If I were Toyota, I’d be more worried about those cases,’ he added.

Toyota owners are claiming that the company knew all along about the safety problems and concealed them from buyers. Now they say their vehicles have fallen in value by as much as £500 as a result of the recalls.

Under US law, class action lawsuits must have 100 or more plaintiffs, damages must exceed £3million and the judge must be persuaded that all the claims are identical or very similar.

Toyota has so far recalled more than eight million vehicles because of problems caused by what it says are accelerator pedals that become sticky or get trapped under floor mats.

Another 437,000 Prius models have been recalled worldwide for what Toyota says is an anti-lock-braking glitch.

The vast majority of lawsuits claiming economic loss stem from the accelerator problems, and many contend the company's effort to fix floor mats or accelerator pedals are insufficient.

Dozens of lawsuits claim Toyota has ignored problems with its electronic throttle system.

The Prius involved in Monday’s drama was manufactured in 2008, which has not so far been included in any recalls.

The incident happened in the same county where an off-duty California Highway Patrol trooper and three family members were killed last August in an incident that brought the issue to national attention and led to the first major recall over unintended acceleration.



Mr Sikes was unable to slow down for more than 30 miles as he drove along a motorway in San Diego

The officer instructed the driver on how to use his emergency brake, before shepherding him to the side of the road

Driver James Sikes was saved by a highway patrol officer after his car accelerated out of control

Toyoda President of Toyota Corp. arrives for grilling in Congress

* Toyoda says to cooperate with US gov't investigation

* Issa says NHTSA faces scrutiny for 'decade of neglect'

* Japan opens probe into sudden acceleration



Toyota Motor Corp's (7203.T)
(TM.N) president pledged to cooperate fully with U.S government
officials investigating safety problems on Wednesday as he
prepared to tell a congressional panel that the automaker had
let standards slip in its rise to the top.

Akio Toyoda arrived at a congressional office building on
Wednesday morning, hours before his scheduled testimony for
U.S. lawmakers. He read a short statement in Japanese to
waiting reporters.

"This is a very valuable opportunity to appear today and I
am very grateful to Congress for this invitation," said Toyoda,
who was accompanied by Yoshi Inaba, Toyota's chief of North
American operations.

"Safety is our top priority and I intend to cooperate fully
with the U.S. government," he said.

Toyoda, who has appeared uneasy with the global spotlight
in the past month, waited for a translator to deliver his short
statement in English and then walked briskly off when prompted
by an aide, declining to take questions from reporters.

Toyoda's appearance before a congressional panel marks the
dramatic peak so far of a safety crisis that broke a month ago
with a series of recalls that now includes more than 8.5
million vehicles globally.

Toyota, founded by Toyoda's grandfather, now faces a
criminal investigation and a securities probe in the United
States as well as unresolved questions about hundreds of
incidents of unintended acceleration reported by consumers.

Toyoda is one of nine witnesses set to appear before a
congressional panel on Wednesday. The same panel will also
hear from a relative of Mark Saylor, an off-duty California
Highway Patrol officer who was killed last August, along with
three members of his family, when the Toyota Lexus sedan he was
driving sped out of control.

Toyoda and Inaba are due to appear in the second panel of
witnesses on Wednesday, after U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray
LaHood and David Strickland, head of the National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration.

In his prepared testimony, Toyoda extended his condolences
to the Saylor family and said he was "deeply sorry" that the
company had allowed its standards for quality to slip during a
period of fast growth over the past decade.

Toyota has promised internal reforms intended to increase
attention to safety and ensure that future recalls happen more
quickly in response to consumer complaints.

'A DECADE OF NEGLECT'

Darrell Issa, the ranking Republican on the U.S. House
Oversight and Government Reform panel, said regulators at the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had to face as
much scrutiny as Toyota.

"We're going to hold NHTSA accountable for a decade of
neglect just as much as Toyota," said Issa, who has been
outspoken about the need for Toyoda himself to appear before
Congress.

"He's the only person who can bring real change on behalf
of his company," he told Reuters Insider.

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Toyota grapples with PR bungles, tarnished brand

Faced with an unprecedented recall of millions of vehicles and rivals swooping in on its customers, the public relations machine at Toyota Motor Corp (7203.T) -- one of the most savvy brand-creators in Asia -- is floundering.

Toyota has consistently played down recurring complaints of unintended acceleration, breaking what PR experts said is the cardinal rule in crisis management: assume the worst.

"People want to see a company take full responsibility, be empathic to the victims and their families and be in control by outlining the problem and how they intend to solve it. They also expect the CEO doing all this," said Ong Hock Chuan, a technical adviser of Jakarta-based PR consultancy Maverick who specializes in crisis management.

 

"Toyota seems to have failed in all counts."

Toyota President Akio Toyoda, the grandson of the company's founder, has not formally addressed the public or media on the recall problems.

Through November, the company continued to blame loose floor mats for the problem. That has eventually spread to a potential problem with accelerator pedals, and U.S. safety regulators are now renewing efforts to re-confirm whether the electronic throttle control system could have been at fault.

At a news conference in Nagoya on Tuesday -- the first appearance by an executive from headquarters since the recall expanded last week -- there was no deep bow, a standard fixture in Japan when a firm declares it is responsible for its mistakes.

"There should have been a more convincing explanation, including from the president," said Masato Takahashi, a public relations consultant at Kyodo PR.

"Even when they announced the recall initially, you can't just say, 'We're going to do a recall'. They should have gone further in way of explanation, and there should have been a heartfelt apology from the top."

ABSOLUTE DISASTER

At the news conference, a little-known Toyota executive in charge of quality, Shinichi Sasaki, said part of the reason Toyota decided to use U.S. autoparts maker CTS's (CTS.N) accelerators was to help contribute to the local U.S. economy.

That was not what customers want to hear, PR consultants said, least of all when public memory is still fresh of a 911 call of August 28 along with the sounds of the caller's Lexus crashing, killing its driver and three members of his family.

"It is an absolute disaster for a company which is Japanese, which has top-notch quality control, to have done it in such a spluttering manner," said Suhel Seth, managing partner of Indian brand management firm Counselage.

"What's worse is that in this case this whole concept of the visible Japanese apology was so missing."

Toyota spokeswoman Mieko Iwasaki said the company had all along taken the steps it believed were the best and fastest to put its customers first.

"If that was perceived as too slow, we will accept that as a sign of our shortcoming," she said.

For the past decade, Japan Inc has tried to learn from past mistakes, when critics lambasted its habit of keeping data under wraps and its efforts to convey an image of calm deliberation.

After Bridgestone Corp (5108.T) was forced to recall 17 million tyres in 2000 following a series of deadly crashes, more companies have put in place crisis management procedures and turned to corporate communications firms for help.

Some argue that Toyota did what it could, as soon as it grasped the gravity of the problem.

Toyota ran full-page ads in major U.S. newspapers on Sunday alerting consumers to the recall and production shutdown. Jim Lentz, president of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., appeared on U.S. TV and expressed regret for worrying drivers of its cars.

The scope of Toyota's recalls and production stoppage shows how serious Toyota is, said Hannah Cunliffe, a fund manager at Germany's Union Investment, which holds Toyota shares.

"Some of the comments that have come out of the management really show that they are not trying to put anything under the carpet or trying to deny anything," she said. "I don't feel they are handling it badly. But it's a very tough thing to handle."

PERCEPTION GAP

Consumers in Japan have been slow to voice concern, and rival automakers have not offered incentives to capitalize on Toyota's woes.

"It seems to be a problem just in the U.S.," said retiree Masanori Kawami, 63, who said he was expecting delivery of a Prius at the end of this month. "I'm not worried."

But that nonchalance may not last.

North American and Japanese dealers have received several dozen complaints over insufficient braking on Toyota's new Prius hybrid on bumpy or frozen roads, Toyota said.


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Toyota halts sale of 8 models over pedal recalls-Over issue pedal stuck on floormat

2009 Toyota Matrix is among vehicles recalled by Toyota over an accelerator pedal issue.


In what was described as the largest such move ever by an automaker in the United States, Toyota said today it had halted sales of eight models of its cars and trucks that account for more than half its U.S. sales until it could find a fix for sticking accelerator pedals under a safety recall.


The move, which will cut production for at least a week at seven Toyota plants in North America, comes six days after the Japanese automaker announced the recall of 2.3 million vehicles due to the accelerator problem that it first encountered in 2007.

The models, including its top-selling Camry and Corolla sedans, accounted for 56% of Toyota’s U.S. sales last month. No imported models are covered by the stop sale order.

The decision mars a reputation for high quality that Toyota had relied on to become the world’s largest automaker and claim 17% of the U.S. market.

Between this recall and an earlier one involving floor mats, Toyota has called back 4.8 million vehicles to fix problems that could lead to sudden uncontrolled acceleration. Safety advocates have linked the problems in Toyotas to 19 deaths and more than 2,000 complaints.

While Toyota says the problem is rare and confined to older models, it has not been able to specify under what conditions the pedals might stuck. With no remedy for the new problem, Toyota launched a web site last week giving consumers advice on how to stop their vehicles if their pedals were stuck, including shifting into neutral and shutting off the engine.

“This action is necessary until a remedy is finalized,” said Bob Carter, head of Toyota’s U.S. sales arm. We’re making every effort to address this situation for our customers as quickly as possible.”

Models affected by the recall

• 2009-2010 RAV4,

• 2009-2010 Corolla,

• 2009-2010 Matrix,

• 2005-2010 Avalon,

• Certain 2007-2010 Camrys,

• 2010 Highlander,

• 2007-2010 Tundra,

• 2008-2010 Sequoia

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Read more about Toyota

 

Latest Toyota recall 4.0million vehicles because of pedal accelator get stuck in floor mat.-Top Manager face 20% bonus slash

In this Oct. 1, 2009 photo, a top selling Toyota Camry is on display in the showroom at the McGeorge Toyota dealership in Richmond, Va. Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2009, it will replace accelerator pedals on 3.8 million recalled vehicles in the United States to address problems with the pedals becoming jammed in the floor mat


In this Oct. 19, 2005, file photo a Toyota Prius hybrid compact car is exhibited at the Tokyo Motor Show in Makuhari, east of Tokyo. Toyota is slashing managers' bonus pay 20 percent as the Japanese automaker tackles a massive recall in the U.S. and deep losses for the second fiscal year straight.


The accelerator pedal, right, in a 2010 Toyota Avalon is seen on the show room floor of Bobby Rahal Toyota in Mechanicsburg, Pa., Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2009. Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday it will replace accelerator pedals on about 4 million recalled vehicles in the United States because the pedals can get stuck in the floor mats.


The accelerator pedal, right, in a 2010 Toyota Camry is seen on the show room floor of Bobby Rahal Toyota in Mechanicsburg, Pa., Wednesday, Nov. 25, 2009. Toyota Motor Corp. said Wednesday it will replace accelerator pedals on about 4 million recalled vehicles in the United States because the pedals can get stuck in the floor mats.



Toyota Motor Corp. is replacing accelerator pedals on about four million recalled vehicles to address concerns over sudden acceleration.

"I'm happy they've taken the direction they have," says Jeff Pepski of Plymouth.

While many have read about the sudden acceleration problems, Pepski says he lived it last February. His Lexus ES-350 suddenly accelerated from 60 to 80 miles an hour. He says he desperately tried to stop by pushing down and pulling up on the accelerator with his foot, but nothing seemed to work. Eventually, he got the car to stop.

"It was one of the most dangerous situations I've ever been in," he says.

A similar situation near San Diego, Calif., ended tragically for a family of four. All of them died when their rented Lexus suddenly accelerated, apparently after the gas pedal got stuck under the floor mat.

Other incidents have been reported throughout the country.

Concerns over floor mats prompted Toyota to recall about four million vehicles in September. At the time, the company asked owners to remove their driver's side mats until a permanent solution could be found.

But Pepski had his doubts. "The floor mat wasn't the cause of my incident," he said in late October.

Toyota is now taking action and isn't just replacing the floor mats. The company plans to shorten the gas pedals by three-fourths of an inch on recalled cars starting in January, then install newly designed gas pedals starting in April.

In some recalled cars, Toyota will also install a brake override system as a precaution. That system stops the car from acceleration if there's any pressure on the brake. To Pepski, that move is very important.

"All of the problems that I've experienced with the vehicle involving runway acceleration I think can be solved with having this brake override system," he says.

Pepski does wonder why Toyota isn't installing the brake override system in all of the recalled vehicles. Toyota says it will be standard in many models by the end of next year.

Toyota says it's "very, very confident" these changes will address the acceleration issue and says it has no reason to believe there are problems with the cars' electronic control system.

Affected owners will be notified starting in late December. The recall involves 3.8 million vehicles, including the 2007-10 Camry, 2005-10 Avalon, 2004-09 Prius, 2005-10 Tacoma, 2007-10 Tundra, 2007-10 Lexus ES350 and 2006-10 Lexus IS250/350.

Toyota top manager face 20% cut in bonuses as Toyota face the largest recall of vehicles.


Toyota is slashing bonus pay for managers as the Japanese automaker tackles a massive recall in the U.S. and deep losses for the second straight fiscal year.

Toyota Motor Corp. said Thursday winter bonus payments for 8,700 managers in Japan will be cut by 20 percent.

Japanese workers at major companies such as Toyota get twice-a-year bonus pay in addition to their monthly salaries which reflects the company's performance.

Toyota announced in the U.S. on Wednesday a massive recall affecting 4 million vehicles to replace the gas pedals that can get stuck in the floor mats and cause sudden acceleration.

The recall, Toyota's largest ever in the U.S., comes at a time when the maker of the Prius hybrid and Lexus luxury car is trying to reverse losses caused by a global slump and strengthening yen.

Earlier this month, Toyota lowered its loss forecast for the fiscal year through March 2010 to 200 billion yen ($2.2 billion) from its initial projection for a 450 billion yen ($5 billion) loss.

The world's biggest automaker had just managed to crawl back into the black for the July-September quarter following three straight quarters of red ink as government stimulus measures helped boost global sales of green vehicles.

Toyota's top executives and board have already given up their bonus pay.

The cuts for managers follow a 60 percent year-on-year decline for their summer bonus this year, and a 10 percent cut for their winter bonus in 2008.

The bonuses for union workers have also been cut. Their winter bonus will average 930,000 yen ($10,700) this year, down 18 percent from the previous year, according to Toyota.

The cost of the U.S. recall is expected to be significant because of the sheer number of vehicles.

The Nikkei, Japan's biggest business newspaper, said the recall cost, although reaching tens of billions of yen (hundreds of millions of dollars) won't change Toyota's annual earnings forecast because the company earmarks money for such measures.

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