The recent tragic accident that took the life of California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Saylor and three members of his family after the throttle on Lexus ES 350 sedan became stuck in the full open position causing the vehicle to race at speeds of more than 100 mph before crashing and bursting into flames have focused the attention of the public, Toyota, and federal regulators on issues surrounding sudden unintended accelerations in vehicles manufactured by Toyota and Lexus. However, this is not the only fatal crash resulting from sudden unintended acceleration of Toyota vehicles. According to Sean Kane, president of Safety Research & Strategies, Inc., there have been more than 2000 complaints of sudden unintended accelerations in Toyota and Lexus vehicles in the past ten years, with sudden unintended acceleration being the suspected cause of accidents resulting in 243 injuries and 16 fatalities.

While Toyota Motor Corporation recently initiated a recall of the floor mats affecting approximately 4 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles, evidence suggests that many incidents of sudden unintended acceleration are unrelated to the floor mats, and that the true scope and nature of the problem is likely more complex, potentially involving electromagnetic interference, computer algorithms, the integrity of electrical contacts and semi-conductors, or malfunctioning of cruise control systems.

Regardless of the cause of the sudden unintended acceleration, these incidents have also focused attention on serious control issues relating to Toyota's brake and acceleration systems. For instance, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Vehicle Research and Test Center recently released a report finding that drivers would have difficulty to reacting appropriately when their Toyota or Lexus vehicle experiences an unintended acceleration because:

• the ignition button on vehicles with a keyless ignition system must be depressed continuously for three seconds while the vehicle is in motion before it will turn off the engine;


• the neutral gear position in the gated shift pattern was not immediately obvious; and


• when the throttle plate is in the open position the effectiveness of the brakes is reduced significantly because the vacuum power assist of the braking system cannot be replenished, requiring a brake pedal force of 150 pounds to stop the vehicle, five times more than the 30 pounds required when the vehicle is operating normally.

Compounding the problem is Toyota's failure to incorporate a brake-to-idle failsafe that many other manufacturers incorporate in their vehicle designs. This failsafe operates by detecting when the brake is being applied while the throttle pedal is being depressed and then electronically overriding the throttle input, bringing the engine back to idle, thereby allowing the driver to stop the vehicle in a much shorter distance.

What has become clear is that more information and corrective action is needed before any more lives are senselessly lost as a result of sudden unintended acceleration. Statements recently released by Toyota Motor Corporation, however, confirm that it is Toyota's intention to dismiss this recurring problem as being solely the product of ill-designed floor mats. McCuneWright LLP is aggressively investigating this issue and if you, or anyone you know, has experienced a sudden unintended acceleration in a Toyota or Lexus vehicle, we would like to hear your story.