Report on Toyota Crash Data Points to Driver Error

The Department of Transportation has studied dozens of the black boxes contained in Toyota automobiles involved in collisions attributed to unintended acceleration, discovering the brakes were not engaged and the throttles were open, according to a Wall Street Journal report Tuesday.

The findings suggest that the drivers of the speeding vehicles were pressing on the accelerator instead of applying the brakes. The cars studied were culled from a sample in which drivers claimed they hit the brakes but could not stop the vehicle before crashing, the paper reported, citing anonymous sources familiar with the results of the study.

Officials from the DOT would not confirm the report or offer comment. Mike Michels, a spokesperson for Toyota, reported that the NHTSA has not provided its findings to Toyota but claimed that their own findings from studies of unintended acceleration are similar to those indicated in the report.

The black boxes, known as even data recorders, are machines that record several details about an automobile during the time of an accident, such as which pedals were pushed and what speed the vehicle was traveling.

Globally, Toyota has recalled over 8.5 million vehicles since the fall of 2009 because of sticking gas pedals, faulty floor mats, and brake issues with the Prius model, among other issues. The biggest problems stemmed from unintended acceleration, which the carmaker has tried to rectify by repairing the floor mats and gas pedals.

The government has reported that unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles could have been involved in as many as 93 deaths over the last ten years. The agency has fielded roughly 3,000 sudden-acceleration complaints in Toyotas.

The NHTSA’s associate administrator for enforcement, Daniel Smith, reported to a panel last month that the safety agency had not yet discovered any flaws aside from the two issues pointed out by Toyota—sticking gas pedals and gas pedals that may become lodged under floor mats.