Did Former Regulators Help Toyota Kill Probes
Toyota may have fended off earlier attempts by government agencies to investigate the deadly sudden acceleration problems which led to the recent recall. Bloomberg news is reporting that former federal regulators hired by Toyota helped end at least four U.S. investigations of unintended acceleration by company vehicles in the last decade.
According to the report, Christopher Tinto, vice president of regulatory affairs in Toyota’s Washington office, and Christopher Santucci, who works for Tinto, helped persuade the NHTSA to end probes including those of 2002-2003 Toyota Camrys and Solaras. Both men joined Toyota directly from NHTSA, Tinto in 1994 and Santucci in 2003.
While all automakers have employees who handle NHTSA issues, Toyota seems to be alone among the major companies in employing former agency staffers to do so.
Possible links between Toyota and NHTSA may fuel mounting criticism of their handling of defects in Toyota and Lexus models tied to 19 deaths between 2004 and 2009. Three congressional committees have scheduled hearings on the recalls.
In one example given of the Toyota aides’ role, Santucci testified in a Michigan lawsuit that the company and NHTSA discussed limiting an examination of unintended acceleration complaints to incidents lasting less than a second.
Toyota recently recalled 2.3 million U.S. cars and trucks with a potentially defective accelerator pedals. That followed Toyota’s decision in November to recall 4.48 million vehicles in the U.S. and Canada because floor mats might trap gas pedals while they were depressed.
Combined worldwide recalls for pedals, floor mats and a software fix to adjust brakes on the Prius and other hybrid models rose to more than 8 million vehicles as of Feb. 8.
All four of the probes the Toyota aides helped end were into complaints that the unintended acceleration was caused by flaws in the vehicles’ electronic throttle systems. Toyota has denied that the system is a problem.
