The executive editor of Car & Driver Magazine has written a fantastic editorial on the actual risks Toyota owners are subjected to as a result of the sticking/entrapped accelerator pedal recalls. Basically, it says what a lot of Toyota owners were already thinking: the risks from the recalls really aren’t a big deal.

First, using their own test equipment, Car & Driver has confirmed that a Toyota stuck on full-throttle can be successfully stopped using the vehicle’s brake system (even at highway speeds).

Next, C&D points out something that a few people here have been saying: if your car’s accelerator is stuck, hit the brakes, shift into neutral, and then shut off the engine. If you act in a cool and calm manner, a stuck accelerator isn’t going to hurt you.

Then, C&D dives into the numbers. Using the suspect figure of 20 deaths that are reportedly associated with unintended acceleration, C&D finds the odds of dying in a Toyota as a result of unintended acceleration to be about 1 in 200,000.

We’re no Toyota apologists, but if you look past the media circus, the numbers don’t reveal a meaningful problem. Every man, woman, and child in the U.S. has approximately a one-in-8000 chance of perishing in a car accident every year. Over a decade, that’s about one in 800. Given the millions of cars included in the Toyota recalls and the fewer than 20 alleged deaths over the past decade, the alleged fatality rate is about one death per 200,000 recalled Toyotas.

Finally, C&D addresses the assertion that Toyota’s electronic drive-by-wire system is somehow faulty. As we have said here on TundraHQ in the past, there’s absolutely no proof that the drive-by-wire system is flawed. NHTSA has conducted 6 investigations on the system of the past 10 years, and not one of those investigations found a problem.

If you haven’t already done so, be sure to read Car and Driver’s editorial Toyota Recall: Scandal, Media Circus, and Stupid Drivers.

Comments?

Popularity: 1%