A US Government investigation into the safety of Toyota cars has found no electronic fault that could have caused the unintentional acceleration problems that lead to widespread recalls in 2010.
After a 10-month study, helped by NASA engineers, the U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said on Tuesday (February 8) that the Government could not connect unintended acceleration in Toyotas to a flaw in the cars' electronics.
Toyota recalled an estimated eight million cars to fix those and other 'faults' and has always denied the software was a cause.
The news was welcomed by the Japanese carmaker, which recently announced a 39 per cent drop in quarterly profits.
In response to the publication by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of an extensive review of the electronic throttle control systems in Toyota and Lexus vehicles, conducted with the assistance of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), Steve St. Angelo, Toyota's Chief Quality Officer for North America, said: "Toyota welcomes the findings of NASA and NHTSA regarding our Electronic Throttle Control System with intelligence (ETCS-i) and we appreciate the thoroughness of their review. We believe this rigorous scientific analysis by some of America's foremost engineers should further reinforce confidence in the safety of Toyota and Lexus vehicles. We hope this important study will help put to rest unsupported speculation about Toyota's ETCS-i, which is well-designed and well-tested to ensure that a real world, un-commanded acceleration of the vehicle cannot occur.
"We will continue to develop and equip Toyota and Lexus vehicles with industry-leading safety technologies, including many based on breakthroughs in sophisticated electronics systems. We will also continue to cooperate fully with NHTSA and respected outside experts in order to help ensure that our customers have the utmost confidence in the safety and reliability of our vehicles. Everyone at Toyota - all 30,000 of our team members in the United States and the many thousands of Americans at our dealers and suppliers across the country - is focused on listening to our customers and constantly improving our products and service."