Toyota says recent media claims are nothing but false

Nightly news programs are supposed to report the truth, but every once in a while they get accused or caught of unfavorable editing. This is the case between Toyota and president of ABC news David Westin who has been asked to retract and apologize for a story reported by ABC reporter Brian Ross.

Ross’ report centered on a test conducted by an Illinois professor David Gilbert, which claimed to figure out a way to induce an unintentional acceleration in Toyotas without the triggering of an error code, which would permit the mechanics of the Toyota to diagnose the problem. Gilberts test was intended to show that it is theoretically possible for Toyotas to accelerate without command while failing to show signs of doing so afterwards. Videos like this are the reason why sales at a used Toyota Rav4 Schaumburg dealership might have spiraled downwards following the recalls.

During the report there is a scene where Ross is driving a Toyota and to add emphasis on the dangerousness of this unintended acceleration they edit in a shot of a tachometer acting out of control. The video clip of the tachometer was actually filmed while the car was stationary and parked, but the editing team threw it into the scene seamlessly creating the effect as if the tachometer was in fact surging.

The letters Toyota have written to ABC surfaced on the internet and they do mention their right to take lawful actions, “Toyota reserves the right to take any and every appropriate step to protect and defend the reputation of our company and its products from irresponsible and inaccurate claims.”

After the video was aired, there was concern about its validity and the online news version was eventually re-edited to be truthful.

However, this was not the only aspect of the news story that turned out to be false. When Gilbert conducted the test on the Toyota he had previously reconfigured and rewired the vehicle to respond the way he wanted it to. Gilbert rewired the Toyota to accelerate without command and without generating the error code, which can be done on several other cars including Honda, Subaru, Chevrolet and Ford. The rewiring of the car to gain unfavorable responses was not something unique to Toyota.

None of this was revealed in the aired version of the report. Test drive a Camry for yourself at your local Schaumburg used Toyota Rav4 dealership.