Anderson Cooper / CNN: Confidential Toyota Document Acknwledged Sudden Acceleration

Anderson Cooper 360 on CNN aired a story last night discussing a 2006 Toyota internal "confidential" document that acknowledging electronic-caused sudden unintended acceleration that described an electronic "malfunction that caused the vehicle to acceleration on its own."

"The cruise control activates by itself at full throttle when the accelerator pedal position sensor is abnormal," states the document, written in Japanese, translated into English.

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"This looks like a classic example of electronics causing a car to suddenly accelerate," said Michael Pecht, director of the CALCE Electronics Products and Systems Center at the University of Maryland.

Source: CNN

Unsurprisingly, Toyota tried for weeks to convince CNN to not air its report.

Contrary to many media reports, the NHTSA and NASA investigation did not vindicate Toyota's electronics as a potential cause of sudden unintended acceleration. Instead, NASA wrote that the Toyota electronic throttle control system is so complex that it was not realistic to prove that it cannot cause unintended acceleration and that NASA's report "does not vindicate the system." In fact, NASA identified a number of electronic causes of sudden unintended acceleration in its report.

Moreover, it appears that neither NHTSA or NASA had all of the critical documents and reports on Toyota SUA at the time the investigation was done. Toyota, for example, failed to provide NHTSA with the critical document discussed in Anderson Cooper's report. NHTSA failed to share critical public reports of sudden acceleration, like that Joseph McClelland.

This latest report on Toyota sudden acceleration raises another refrain of the critical question: What did Toyota know; and when did it know it?

[More on Toyota]

[More on Sudden Acceleration]

Read More:

• Experts: Translated Toyota memo shows electronic acceleration concern [David Fitzpatrick and Drew Griffen at CNN via Anderson Cooper 360]
• NHTSA Sued For Hiding Evidence in Toyota Sudden Acceleration Probe
• Government Officials Video Electronic Unintended Acceleration in Toyota: NHTSA Hides Information, SRS Sues Agency for Records [The Safety Record at Safety Research & Strategies]
• What NASA's Report Said About Toyota Sudden Acceleration
• What the NHTSA / NASA Reports Did NOT Say About Toyota Sudden Acceleration

(c) Copyright 2012 Brett A. Emison

Follow @BrettEmison on Twitter.