NHTSA has to have a toyota tech retrieve the info from the black box because the info is encrypted and only toyota can retrieve it. So toyota can overwrite the info as they are retrieving the info, so the finding are in there favor and also help them with thier lawsuits! Other companies do not encrypt the info in thier black boxes, only toyota does! NHTSA has demanded that toyota not to encrypted the info anymore. We will never know the true story because toyota has the info and they can do whatever they want with it.

@X007, where is the info about Toyota encrypting their black boxes? Do you have a source to cite on this one? I'd like to read about it.

So 60.3% of the drivers did NOT apply the brakes (of those reviewed as per article)... What are these people doing while they are driving? They have to be distracted by something. Your instinctive reaction is to literally JUMP on that brake pedal.

They jumped on the gas instead! I have only heard of camrys having this problem. Has anyone heard of a Tundra or Tacoma crashing yet?

@Chris: CNN had a video of a Tundra where the owner claimed it had unintentionally accelerated. After seeing what Toyota showed myself and other media a few months back, it's very unlikely a common electronics issue. They really do have a number of safeguards in place to prevent electronic interference with throttle controls.

@ Zach J I watched the hearings on c-span when akio toyoda had to appear before congress. They had Ray Lahood on first and he told congress the info was encrypted and only a few poeple from toyota could get the info. When congress asked akio why the info is ecrypted and why only toyota techs can retrieve the info, he didn't have an answer. I'm sure if you google toyota ecrypted black box you should find something. The whole thing is shady and after watching the hearings I would not trust anything they say. Akio opening statement he spoke in plain english and after that he had a translator all the way to the end. Two days later Phil lebeau from cnbc interviewed akio after he spoke at one of thier plants and akio was asked questions in english and he answered them in english without a translator. He did not need a translator at the hearings. They know exactly whats going on, and a continue to lie!

@x007

Just face the facts, Toyota is not at fault!

So you trust Congress and the Obama administration more?

You are the one with a shady background. It was shady from the beginning the federal government's position, not Toyota's.

It looks like the federal government was trying to reach the end of the earth to find something, that is something to nail Toyota with to help their struggling brand GM.

It has failed, lesson learn, keep the federal government out of the private sector period!

Prop up Goverment Motors and ruin Toyota. Thats wat happened plain and simple. It so obvious. And now the truth comes out. Obama and the Czars are big time SHADY!!! Welcome to communisim, friends.

Toyota is at fault and admitted that the problems they have with there quality, is due to fast expansion in a short time! Toyota set it sites on beating GM of the top spot in production and loss there quality advantage. Toyota is just another car company!

You guys are unreal with your conspiracies with the government and toyota altogether.

I've heard about the encryption as well. So what?
@kemo - agreed.
@ X007 that is paranoia at its finest to assume that the data is corrupted as it is downloaded from the "blackbox". An officer of the court and forensic computer/software experts would be present as the blackbox is downloaded.

Why is it so hard to admit that people do not know how to drive.

Statistics indicate that 1/3 or 33% of the motoring public should not have a driver's licence.
Roughly 60% are average,
and the remainder are good to excellent.
The ones that fall in the good to excellent category are usually professional drivers (truckers, firemen, paramedics, police etc.)
Most people will say that they are good or excellent when the truth is, only 7% are.

@ LOU-I do not have paranoia and I hardly worry about anything! You do not know me so keep the psychoanalysis to yourself! Companies lie and do deceitful things reguadless if their is an officer of the court there or not! It is not paranoia, anything can happen and thats a fact of life!

Guys if you follow my post then you all know how much I HATE Toyota but even I don't think they are trying to cover up anything. Do I think its electronic in nature? Well IF Obama or the administration wanted to pin something on them they would just make it up, so no I don't think it is. Did the GOV lie about Toyota in order to prop up GM... that one may be more believable. Do I think more that people don't know how to drive in the first place... This is the most believable of them all. I would gladly invite one of you to ride with me in my delivery truck one day to see the idiots I have to ride around. People generally don't know how to drive anymore. Everyone is in a huge rush in this new got to have it now era that they think they can make 30 miles in 5 minutes. You can thank fast internet, on demand TV, I tunes, and other stuff for this. When people want something they want it NOW, and when they go somewhere they wanted to be there 10 min ago...

@Lou - Nice post bud and I agree.

Society = stupid drivers!

And yes that includes many Toyota drivers. Around here they are middle to upper middle class and they suck. Too busy on the cell phone and all that jazz...

But to pin Toyota with a problem from driver error was silly of the federal government that owns GM and not believable!

That is why this report is no suprise!

These quick get a buck lawyers and lazy society that wants to sue for millions to cover up their stupid driving habits so they can have money the easy, lazy way are the real problem!

I have driven Toyota's for over 15 years and have never ran across any problem the federal government and the media claim!

"The ones that fall in the good to excellent category are usually professional drivers (truckers, firemen, paramedics, police etc.)"

You obviously haven't spent much time around truckers...

@Enjelus - and whats that supposed to mean? Truckers are one of the most safest on the road period. Yes there are some unsafe and questionable truck drivers but all in all most of us are safe at what we do, mostly to protect ourselves from the idiots around us in their little matchbox cars... Commercial driving accidents have been falling year after year for the past 20 years and are at an all time low. Although I could check the stats (but its 11 o'clock) something tells me the same can't be said about non commercial drivers. Most of the accidents with CDL trucks nowadays are caused by idiot matchbox drivers.

Having worked with truckers most of my adult life I can say a few things about them.

#1 They all think they are great drivers
#2 They all complain about everyone else's driving
#3 Most of them do the exact things they complain about other drivers doing, except they do it in a 80klb trailer truck

For example, one of the guy's I work with complains all the time about people riding his bumper... but he'll sit right on someones ass so close you can't even see their back bumper over the hood...

This kind of thing isn't an exception either its the norm, but I suspect you're probably a trucker so I'll just refer you to #1.

On the subject of truckers -
whomever says they are the safest hasn't been around truckers long enough. I've come across many of them who think their fully loaded rig performs like a Enzo when making sudden lane changes. Truck drivers and city drivers are the two types of people I hate driving around as they are completely unpredictable. At least the truckers use signals and look before jackknifing. I'm not saying all are bad... there are still some who respect that they are to be and should only be in the right lane.

Tundras are a joke.

Event data recorders used in NHTSA study of Toyotas have history of problems
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/19/AR2010081906562.html?sub=AR

Personally I'm more inclined to believe a company would modify encrypted data to guard its own ass than to believe this whole thing is a conspiracy by the government to make people GM.

I have to believe yota would fix the problem if there was a problem, having their name drug threw the mud, congressional hearings, media hysteria, rumors hurt them more than actually finding a problem and addressing it. Offering a million dollar reward, NHTSA, NASA, engineers galore trying to figure out what was wrong and nobody could find any electrical/computer problem. So... I think this horse is dead , people can't drive.

friends don't let friends drive toyota's.

Guys - I agree.
Not all truckers are good.
Just like there are crappy police or paramedic drivers.

The story I quoted had said that the majority of drivers that fall into the good to excellent category are professional drivers. I just used their examples.
If you consider that truck drivers, fireman, paramedics etc. make up more than 7% of the driving public - that alone indicates that there are a huge number of crappy drivers out there, regardless what they drive!

I guess many of you don't watch the news much. Seems like at least once a week a car drives into a store or house due to operator error. Hitting the gas instead of the brake happens more than people will admit or think. FWIW I find it odd that the number of the accidents that occur overall or with other manufacturers never appears. I am sure it is not zero except for Toyota.