Toyota attacks claim of defect found in electronics

Toyota attacks claim of defect found in electronics Months into its recall crisis, Toyota Motor Corp. launched a counterattack Monday, bringing out a panel of experts to debunk the claims of an academic who says he has found an electronic defect Fire hosein its vehicles related to sudden acceleration.

In a presentation at the company's Torrance operations center, five engineers disputed the findings of Southern Illinois University Carbondale professor David Gilbert, who claims he can produce an electrical fault in Toyota vehicles without its being detected by the vehicles' diagnostic system.

Gilbert's findings, if true, could bolster claims by some Toyota motorists that they experienced sudden acceleration without triggering a trouble code on the vehicles' computers.

Chris Gerdes, director of the Center for Automotive Research at Stanford University, said the findings by Gilbert contain "no evidence of any real-world malfunction that the Toyota system can't detect." And Matthew Schwall, one of three engineers called in from testing firm Exponent Inc., called Gilbert's tests an "unrealistic manipulation."

Gilbert said through a university spokesman that he stands by his research and that he intends to visit facilities of Exponent next week to discuss its review of his research.

Until recently, Toyota has been largely on the defensive as allegations of sudden acceleration in its vehicles have prompted millions of recalls, congressional hearings and federal investigations. On Monday, the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee, in response to a Times article, asked Toyota to produce a copy of a memo from company employees that Toyota allegedly was risking safety in order to cut costs.

Through the first two months of the year, Toyota's U.S. sales were down 12.4%, while its stock price has declined 13%since the company recalled 2.3 million cars for a sticking pedal problem Jan. 21.

And although the new strategy could help the beleaguered automaker vindicate itself from what it has characterized as unfair attacks, it also could open it up to further scrutiny, experts in crisis management said.