Unintended acceleration or driver error?

UNLESS you have no idea what a car is—which is highly unlikely if you’re reading this column—you’ve surely heard of the “sudden unintended acceleration” that bedeviled Toyota from late last year to early this year, forcing the Japanese carmaker to recall millions of vehicles in the US alone. The complaints filed against the car company alleged that certain Toyota models took off on their own even as their drivers were stepping on the brakes, reportedly resulting in crashes, some of which fatal.

I always took this with a grain of salt, especially knowing how Americans have a culture of suing. In particular, they have an ignominious history of filing lawsuits just to make money. Corporate cases that demanded windfall compensation became so prevalent and so ridiculous that you have Starbucks, for instance, investing a fortune in specially designed beverage cups that didn’t spill scorching coffee on the customers, lest the latter sue and ask for damages.

Also, I always wondered aloud to friends: If those Toyota crashes were indeed caused by so-called unintended acceleration, how come we haven’t really heard such cases here—here where Toyota owns more than a third of the car market? One Toyota in every three cars on the road and no unintended-acceleration incidents similar to those claimed by the Americans? That’s weird, considering how several of the models recalled in the US are also sold here. I don’t care if these cars are manufactured in different assembly plants, their basic design and construction are essentially the same.

Another thing that made me suspect this whole debacle to be a sham was the incredible spike in the number of complaints filed against Toyota regarding unintended acceleration after (I repeat, after) the issue had been sensationally publicized. Consider: According to figures from the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), there was only a handful of these complaints in September 2009.
By January 2010, the tally had reached some 250, and lo and behold, the following month, in February, the total exceeded 1,500 cases. Hundreds of Toyotas mysteriously accelerated on their own within a month? If this doesn’t qualify as fantastic, maybe Leonardo DiCaprio can indeed extract our deepest secrets from our subconscious.

I had two theories in the wake of the issue. One, that either old or novice drivers had unwittingly committed pedal misapplication (stepping on the accelerator when they really meant to step on the brakes). And two, that some drivers who had gotten into an accident simply wanted an expedient way out by shifting the blame on their cars.

Now comes a story published in The Wall Street Journal last week saying that the NHTSA has found out—based on the analysis of “dozens of data recorders from Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles involved in accidents blamed on sudden acceleration”—that the causes of the accidents were plain and simple driver error. They arrived at this conclusion after discovering that at the point of most of the impacts, the cars’ “throttles were wide open and the brakes weren’t engaged.” This instantly throws out the window the allegation that Toyota cars have electronic glitches, which would have been pretty scary if proven to be true. As it turns out, Toyota’s critics were much ado about nothing.

This recalls the same issue leveled against the Audi 5000 in the late ’80s. Accused also of accelerating on its own, the car single-handedly brought down Audi’s sales in the US from a peak of 74,000 in 1985 to a measly 12,000 in 1991. This even after thorough investigations conducted by the NHTSA eventually absolved the car and put the blame squarely on driver error. And that’s the thing with these allegations, especially with the global and speedy reach of mass communications: Damage will have been done to the brand even after proving its innocence. That’s the price companies pay for doing business in a world inhabited by gullible people.

Last June 4, a freak accident involving a Toyota Vios occurred on the driveway of the Pacific Star Building on Makati Avenue corner Gil Puyat Avenue, according to a friend who witnessed the incident. Apparently, a taxicab was parked on the driveway unloading a passenger, when it was suddenly rammed from behind by a new Vios (it didn’t have license plates yet). Because building ramps are usually just 5kph zones, you would have to assume the Vios driver was one of three possible things: a very old driver who got confused with the pedals; someone who had suffered a heart attack right there at the wheel; or a neophyte driver who hadn’t received enough training for operating a motor vehicle.

The impact was such that the cab was pushed forward a few feet. After the crash, the Vios’s engine could still be heard whirring, while the car’s front wheels could still be seen spinning. Obviously, the car had an automatic transmission, which had been left in the Drive position. The security guards even had to yell instructions at the stunned Vios driver, who turned out to be a newbie Korean lady driver, according to my friend.

I’m quite certain some of the people who saw the incident took note of the make and model of the offending car. “Ah, a Toyota,” they must have thought. “No surprise there.” Had they stuck around long enough, they would have seen for themselves that inside the Vios was an incompetent driver who had been issued a driver’s license by the authorities. Which makes cases like this not just the error of the driver. Maybe it’s time we also looked at the government agency granting every person the right to drive. –VERNON B. SARNE, Manila Times