Following the recall of hundreds of Toyota units since October 2009, an investigation was conducted by the Department of Transportation on the sudden acceleration spurts that owners of Toyota vehicles have complained about. These “runaway Toyotas” have reportedly been the cause of 39 deaths due to vehicle accidents as of February 2010. Drivers have frequently pointed stuck acceleration pedals and sudden acceleration to be the cause of the accidents.

However, initial results of the government investigation prove this otherwise. No new causes for accidents have been found by the DOT. Investigators from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have also found that out of 58 accidents this year related to the Toyota case, 35 of them had not used brakes. The vehicles’ black boxes revealed that the accelerators were in fact depressed moments before the crash. 14 of them lightly stepped on the brakes. Only one case was registered to be caused by the accelerator getting stuck on the floor carpeting. These findings suggest that human error (speeding, delayed braking) is more likely the cause of Toyota-involved accidents.

DOT spokeswoman Olivia Alair said that this is only a fraction of the investigations to be conducted. NASA and the National Academy of Science will later present their findings on possible throttle malfunctions in the fall.

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