In the fall of 2008, Quality Control Systems Corp. analyzed data from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Early Warning Reporting system through the first quarter of 2008. Our analysis showed that injuries allegedly related to vehicle speed control failures in the 2007 Lexus ES 350 had risen to first place in our rankings of unusual patterns of claims. In fourth place on the list was the twin vehicle to the Lexus ES 350, the 2007 Toyota Camry. The Camry claims were also related to vehicle speed control. Our analysis was published on October 24, 2008 by the Vehicle Safety Information Resource Center on its web.
A widely publicized crash related to speed control failure in a 2009 Lexus ES 350 killed a family of four in Santee, California on August 28, 2009.2 This crash was followed on September 29, 2009 3 by a consumer safety advisory from Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. and an announcement on November 25, 2009 4 of a very large recall related to potential accelerator pedal entrapment by the floor mats in certain Toyota and Lexus vehicles. Addressing the possibility of other sources of speed control failure in these vehicles, Mr. Irv Miller, Group Vice President of Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. reportedly stated, “We can come up with no indication whatsoever that there is a throttle or electronic control system malfunction.”5
We have tested Toyota’s conclusion that there is “no indication” of a throttle or electronic control system malfunction in some of the recalled vehicles as an hypothesis using data taken from consumer complaints made to the National…

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