Toyota warned European countries about defects months before U.S.
As more Toyota internal memos become public, a clearer picture of the company's failure to notify customers of safety concerns in a timely manner begins to materialize. The latest revelation to come out of the investigation is that Toyota identified a problem with sticking accelerator pedals in the fall of 2009, months before making the potentially dangerous product defect known in the U.S. The company notified distributors in more than 30 European countries, but failed to alert the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Under federal law, any car manufacturer must make safety defects known to the NHTSA within five days of their discovery and promptly issue a recall. Rather than disclose the whole truth behind the sudden acceleration problem, Toyota only issued a limited recall in the U.S. saying the incidents were all caused by floor mats getting caught on the gas pedal.
Why would Toyota say the problem is limited to floor mats when their own internal memos showed they knew the problems were more complicated? The company says that there were indeed separate problems requiring recalls and that they have since taken steps to improve communication so their customers can be notified more promptly. This explanation hasn't satisfied American transportation officials who have assessed a record fine of over $16 million on Toyota. The car company has not said whether they will appeal the fine or simply pay it.
The NHTSA has said the investigation hasn't concluded, and they will continue to scour thousands of pages of Toyota documents to look for more violations.
In addition to the federal agency's fine, Toyota faces almost 100 personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits. As many as 52 deaths can be linked to sudden acceleration in a Toyota vehicle.
