Toyota Fast Facts

                                                        March 8, 2010
This is Toyota Fast Facts, an update on breaking news, our recent recalls and the work we are doing to make things right for our customers. Please feel free to share this information with family and friends. For additional information and breaking news, please visitwww.toyotanewsroom.com.

1. Toyota Rebuts Unintended Acceleration Study Presented to Congress

Toyota today raised serious concerns about the validity, methodology and credibility of a demonstration of alleged unintended acceleration in a Toyota Avalon by University of Southern Illinois professor David Gilbert. He presented his findings during a Congressional hearing and on a segment of ABC News.
At a news briefing this morning at TMS headquarters in Torrance, Calif., Toyota revealed the results of a comprehensive analysis conducted by the company and engineering consulting firm Exponent. The analysis of Gilbert’s findings shows:
1.        The Toyota vehicle’s electronics were rewired and reengineered in multiple ways and in a specific sequence. There is no evidence to suggest that this highly unlikely scenario has ever occurred in the real world.
2.        The electronic systems were actively manipulated to mimic a valid full-throttle condition
3.        Substantially similar results can be obtained in vehicles made by other manufacturers.
On hand to discuss these findings were J. Christian Gerdes, mechanical engineering professor at Stanford University and director, Center for Automotive Research at Stanford (CARS); Subodh Medhekar, principal engineer, Exponent; and Kristen Tabar, general manager of Electronics Systems, Toyota Technical Center in Ann Arbor, Mich.
To read the news release and view related materials, please click on: http://pressroom.toyota.com/pr/tms/electronic-throttle-control-154300.aspx.

2. Toyota Responds to House Committee Request
Toyota will cooperate with a request from the House Committee on Energy and Commerce for additional information about unintended acceleration.
In a letter sent Friday to TMS President and COO Jim Lentz, committee chairman Henry Waxman and Bart Stupak, chairman of the Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, said there is an “absence of documents showing that Toyota has systematically investigated the possibility of electronic defects that could cause sudden unintended acceleration.”
In response, Toyota issued the following statement:
“We have received the letter, and will, of course, cooperate. Toyota has already agreed to keep the committee informed on a regular basis. We are providing them with the Exponent report and results of additional testing by Toyota regarding erroneous allegations by [Southern Illinois University professor David] Gilbert that sudden unwanted acceleration can easily be induced in real world conditions. Toyota has offered to demonstrate the results of our further research and would welcome committee representatives to observe those demonstrations.
“Toyota is quickly investigating verifiable complaints of unintended acceleration and we are doing everything we can to ensure that our customers are confident in their vehicles and the remedies.”

3.  Gawker.com Calls Part of ABC News Report ‘Staged’ 
In the ABC News segment about professor David Gilbert’s allegations of unintended acceleration, reporter Brian Ross and his crew fabricated a critical shot of the Toyota’s tachometer, according to Gawker.com. Gawker contends that ABC then inserted the shot into a sequence that shows Ross driving the car in a way that manipulated reality for dramatic effect to suit his story line. “The tachometer footage is faked,” Gawker said.  
To read Gawker’s report and its update about a reedit by ABC, click on: http://gawker.com/5486666/how-abc-news-brian-ross-staged-his-toyota-death-ride.

4. U.S. News and World Report Offers Five Reasons to Buy a Toyota
Although Toyota has taken a nose dive, it will recover, writes Rick Newman in U.S. News and World Report. And he offers five reasons to buy a Toyota vehicle: “Safety concerns are exaggerated, recalls aren’t the whole story, Toyota’s not alone, the cars are still good, and [Toyota offers] white-glove treatment.” To read the article, click on: http://www.usnews.com/money/blogs/flowchart/2010/03/02/5-reasons-to-buy-a-toyota.html.