NHTSA Releases Preliminary Report to Congress
The NHTSA has released to Congress its preliminary report concerning sudden unintented acceleration of Toyota vehicles. After reviewing 58 of the more than 3,000 complaints, the NHTSA has found no instances where the electronic throttle system was to blame. The NHTSA cites other causes, including driver error, for the incidents.
Toyota is quick to point out that this reflects their own findings. Toyota states that it has conducted over 4,000 on-site vehicle inspections with essentially the same results.
Of the 58 cases thus far investigated by the NHTSA, vehicle on-board computers record that the brakes were never depressed in 35 of the cases. In other cases, brakes were partially depressed or pressed at the last second. In other words, the overwhelming majority of the cases indicate the probability of driver error.
The NHTSA refused to comment directly on its report, except to state that the investigation of the onboard computers is only a small part of a many-layered investigation set to be completed in 2011.

