Toyota Case Study

Toyota Case Study

In the article, U.S. to Reveal Toyota Unintended Acceleration Findings by Peter Valdes-Dapena from CNNMoney.com, the U.S. government is scheduled to release a much anticipated extensive report on the findings of Toyota's unintended acceleration malfunction. The investigation, which has taken ten months to complete, was led by NASA and the Department of Transportation. The investigation is intended to provide an answer to what caused the acceleration problems in Toyota's vehicles. NASA and the Department of Transportation conducted the investigation at Chrysler's testing headquarters, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, and who has also had unrestricted access to Toyota's software to thoroughly test the vehicles. Over the summer, they released some early findings of their investigation and surprisingly, found that some of the cases were at the fault of the driver. Prior to the investigation in 2008 and 2009, Toyota had recalled millions of their vehicles to repair the defects that were causing the unintended acceleration. In response to this defect in their vehicles, Toyota has now installed a "brake override" system in all of their newly released models to provide the driver an option to cut off engine power in case of a malfunction. Although the Toyota Company has suffered drastically because of this issue, they have begun to reclaim their leading spot in the American auto market.

After reading this article I chose to do a little extra research on the issue and found the results to the investigation. In an article from the Wall Street Journal, it stated that NASA and the Department of Transportation found the problem to be a mechanical flaw in Toyota's floor mats and gas pedals. The report also blamed the issue on Toyota drivers mistaking the gas pedal for the brake pedal. The findings are of no surprise to me, as I believed it to be mainly the driver's fault from the beginning. My opinion of this could possibly be biased due to my commitment to Toyota vehicles. I currently drive a Toyota truck and have been raised on Toyota. I firmly believe in their product and will until something of proven credibility changes that.

Once this operating malfunction begun to surface, Toyota's company took a large hit. They suffered huge financial losses and their credibility took a serious blow in which they are still recovering from. Members of the U.S. government even went as far as to tell the public to not drive Toyota vehicles. This premature negative publicity was completely out of line with the lack of evidence at hand towards who was to blame for the acceleration malfunctions. Even on the other side, because of ignorant blame placement, large amounts of money have been wasted on law suits against Toyota and the computer software that is used in many vehicles other than Toyota models. I think the U.S. government owes Toyota and