Toyota’s management never took the blame for unintended

acceleration first
When complaints of self-acceleration were first reported, Toyota did not know how to handle them.
Toyota representatives reacted to the complaints in ways that confounded marketing and crisis
management experts. They confused everyone by jumping to conclusions and suggesting different
causes in rapid succession.

First, they attributed the problem to operator error, which is the most frequent cause of self-
acceleration problems in automobiles.Then, Toyota suggested the cause of the problem was floor
mats that trapped the gas pedal. Some engineers blamed “sticky” gas pedals. This was followed by
the suggestion that faulty electronics caused the unintended acceleration.

Instead of reassuring the marketplace, Toyota acted in a way that caused owners to fear for their
safety and prospective buyers to look for other makes and models.

Became a serious crisis after death of off-duty highway patrol officer

Safety concerns over TOYOTA cars have mounted, in the US particular, after a sudden uncontrolled
acceleration killed an off-duty highway patrolman who was driving a Lexus ES350, along with three
members of his family, in California last August.

TOYOTA first orders a large recall of rubber floor mats in the US because the company claimed that
they were at risk of trapping the accelerator pedal in certain models. Around 5.3 million vehicles are
recalled because the gas pedal could get hung up on the car’s floor mats.

Some US drivers also said the accelerator pedal was sticky which led to a massive worldwide recall
because some pedals are used in cars sold all over the world including North American, China,
Europe and Middle East. Gas pedals in some of the recalled cars become sticky over time. At first,
gas pedals just become a little harder to push down and, when people lift their foot off the gas. In the
worst case, the pedal on these cars can become stuck party way down which will keep the car
accelerating or going even when you take your foot off the gas.

The third issue of TOYOTA is the brakes in the latest Prius and Hybrid cars. According to TOYOTA,
Prius models with an antilock brake system will stop 0.06 seconds later than cars with conventional
brakes if the car is running at 20 kph on the icy road and the driver hits the brakes gently.

For the floor mat problem, the vehicles under recall in US are Camry, Avalon, Prius, Tacoma, Tundra,
Highlander, VENZA, Matrix, Lexus IS 250, Lexus IS 350, and Lexus ES 350, according to the Toyota
recall information Web site.

To fix sticky accelerator pedals problem, the manufacturer announced the recall of eight models:
RAV4, Carolla, Matrix, Avalon, Camry, Highlander, Tundra, and Sequoia.

The third-generation Prius and Lexus HS will be recalled to upgrade their brake systems.

Media fueled the notion “Toyota automobiles had serious defects”

As the media fueled the notion that Toyota automobiles had serious defects, the actual data did not
support this notion. A definitive joint study by the National Highway Safety Administration and NASA
found no electronic flaws in Toyota vehicles that would cause dangerous self-acceleration issues.
There is absolutely no evidence of sudden unintended acceleration caused by electronic problems in
Toyota vehicles. The only causes NASA found were improperly installed floor mats and sticky gas
pedals that can be slow to return. There has been only one documented accident caused by the floor
mats — the one involving the loaner Lexus, where the dealer had used the wrong floor mat and failed
to attach it properly with the provided restraining clips.Most accidents have been attributed to driver
error.

In late 2009 Toyota became the subject of media and U.S. government scrutiny after multiple deaths
and injuries were attributed to accidents resulting from the unintended and uncontrolled acceleration
of its cars. Despite Toyota’s voluntary recall of 4.2 million vehicles for floor mats that could jam the
accelerator pedal and a later recall to increase the space between the gas pedal and the floor, the
company insisted there was no underlying defect and defended itself against media reports and
regulatory statements that said otherwise. As the crisis escalated, Toyota was further criticized for its
unwillingness to share information from its data recorders about possible problems with electronic
throttle controls and sticky accelerator pedals, as well as braking problems with the Prius. By the time
Toyota Motor Company president Akio Toyoda apologized in his testimony to the U.S. Congress,
Toyota’s stock price had declined, in just over a month, by 20 percent—a $35 billion loss of market
value.

Uncertainty created by Toyota triggered a series of costly recalls,

lawsuits and lost business
In a poll taken before Lentz spoke, 37% said they were less likely buy Toyota cars. The negative
numbers jumped to 56% after he spoke. The uncertainty created by Toyota representatives triggered
a series of costly recalls, lawsuits, and lost business – causing Toyota and their dealership network to
incur further losses from hefty discounts and implementing the recalls.

Three separate but related recalls of automobiles by Toyota Motor Corporation occurred at the end of
2009 and start of 2010. • Toyota initiated the recalls, the first two with the assistance of the U.S.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), after reports that several vehicles
experienced unintended acceleration. • The first recall, on November 2, 2009, was to correct a
possible incursion of an incorrect or out-of-place front driver's side floor mat into the foot pedal well,
which can cause pedal entrapment. • The second recall, on January 21, 2010, was begun after some
crashes were shown not to have been caused by floor mat incursion. This latter defect was identified
as a possible mechanical sticking of the accelerator pedal causing unintended acceleration, referred
to as Sticking Accelerator Pedal by Toyota.

Following the floor mat and accelerator pedal recalls, Toyota also issued a separate recall for hybrid
anti-lock brake software in February 2010. • As of January 28, 2010, Toyota had announced recalls of
approximately 5.2 million vehicles for the pedal entrapment/floor mat problem, and an additional 2.3
million vehicles for the accelerator pedal problem. Approximately 1.7 million vehicles are subject to
both. • The worldwide total number of cars recalled by Toyota stood at 9 million.