NHTSA reports spike in complaints involving Toyota models

[NINETY EIGHT REGENCY]

NHTSA reports spike in complaints involving Toyota models

02/15/2010, 6:07 PMBY DREW JOHNSON

Following nearly 9 million vehicle recalls, a government agency announced on Monday that it has received an influx of complaints involving Toyota vehicles. The new allegations have yet to be verified, but the spike in complaints does not bode well for Toyota.

According to CNN, the spike in complaints covers most of Toyota’s recalled models, but the Prius hybrid is receiving a disproportional number of reports. As of February 3, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration had received only 124 complaints about the popular hybrid, but by February 13 that figure had ballooned to 1,120 complaints.

Toyota recently recalled 400,000 of its hybrid vehicles for brake problems, but it remains unknown if the latest wave of complaints is tied to that recall or involves another issue.

NHTSA has also confirmed that it has received 9 new reports of fatal accidents involving out of control Toyota models, bringing the alleged death count due to unintended acceleration to 34 since 2000.

While NHTSA says it is common to see a sudden spike in complaints following a recall, it seems Toyota may have a bigger problem on its hands than first expected. In addition to the known accelerator problem, there have been several allegations of glitches in Toyota’s throttle software.

link:

http://www.leftlanenews.com/nhtsa-reports-spike-in-complaints-involving-toyota-models.html