Cause of unintended acceleration undetermined
A settlement was reached with Toyota regarding the crash of a Lexus ES350 near San Diego in August of 2009. The families of the victims agreed to the settlement in September of 2010. The amount of the settlement was made public this week. Toyota admitted no liability in settling the claim while the dealer that loaned the vehicle to the family was not a party to the suit. The victims families will pursue a separate suit against the dealer. The accident report concluded that an incorrect floor mat installed by the dealer caused the unintended acceleration but went on to say “other avenues of unintended acceleration could not be explored” due to extensive vehicle damage. Toyota has faced other unintended acceleration suits in both its Toyota and Lexus brands and has faced millions of vehicle recalls as a result.
While this suit has nothing to do with electric vehicles specifically, it does highlight a point that we made about the pursuit of safety and safety technology regarding Nissan vehicles back in September. Nissan has used brake override technology on its entire lineup since 2004. Oversimplified, if the brake pedal and gas pedal are both depressed, the computer disables the fuel feed to the engine. Neither Toyota nor Honda can make this claim. In fact, Toyota has said that “most models sold in the United States by the end of 2010″ will have the technology. Honda had this to say: “American Honda commitment regarding brake override: We are committed to applying Brake Priority Logic on 100 percent of Honda and Acura passenger vehicles produced for the North American market by the end of calendar year 2011, with our first application coming to market in late August 2010.”
Nissan has often exceeded or preceded government mandates regarding vehicle safety systems. We feel that as adopters of a brand new technology such as can be found in the LEAF, Nissan’s commitment to safety should not be overlooked. Especially as compared to others late adoption of such significant safety equipment.