Initial probe: No new Toyota issues

August 11, 2010 at 12:00a.m.

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

A government investigation into runaway Toyotas has found no new safety defects beyond problems with accelerator pedals that explain reports of sudden acceleration in the vehicles, according to preliminary findings released Tuesday.

Safety experts have said vehicle electronic systems could be to blame for the problems that have led to Toyota’s massive recalls, but the review by the government, though still at an early stage, has not found any evidence of those issues.

Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, has recalled about 9.5 million cars and trucks since October in a quality crisis that has threatened to undermine the Japanese automaker’s reputation for building safe vehicles.

After congressional hearings, the Transportation Department and NASA have been investigating what may have caused unintended acceleration in Toyotas. The government has received about 3,000 complaints about sudden acceleration and estimated the problem could be involved in the deaths of 93 people over the last decade.

The Transportation Department said it had not found any new causes of the problems beyond two previously identified in the recalls — floor-mat entrapment and sticking accelerator pedals.

Toyota said in a statement that the remedies the company has “developed for sticking accelerator pedal and potential accelerator- pedal entrapment by an unsecured or incompatible floor mat are effective.” The automaker said it has inspected more than 4,000 vehicles, and “in no case have we found electronic throttle controls to be a cause of unintended acceleration.”