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With new revelations concerning the safety and functionality of their automobiles, Toyota Motors has been recalling many thousands of cars over the past weeks, bringing the problem vehicles in for inspections and replacing the gas pedals on problem models. Riding on the platform of their brand being one of the safest and most efficient car companies out there, the recent fallout from this “sticking acceleration” problem has been a massively damaging one for Toyota’s public relations. In response to their errors Toyota sprung into action making amends, trying to regain the confidence of the customers while fixing their vehicles as quickly as possible and assuring the car buying public that their automobiles are still some of the safest on the road.

In response to the ongoing recall of Toyota’s vehicles Brian Ross of ABC News decided to put together a package detailing the sticking acceleration and engine throttling problems, testing out cars that had already been through Toyota’s servicing centers and looking to see if these mechanical errors were still an issue. In his report Ross goes to visit the testing labs of Professor David Gilbert of Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, an automotive technologies expert  who has rigged up a Toyota Avalon with sensors and electrical equipment capable of inducing this sudden acceleration issue Toyota’s recall addresses.

The biggest and most threatening issue in the report however was not that Glibert and Ross were able to demonstrate that the Avalon can indeed accelerate suddenly, induced through a complicated electronics rig apparent in the car, but that in his report Brian Ross knowingly edited in video of a revving tachometer that was shot while the car was in park and did not use footage of the car’s gauges while it was being driven (in the original video you can clearly see the red BRAKE light is illuminated on the dashboard).

Editing the video package in this way is quite deceiving to the viewer since one would believe that this unintentional acceleration was induced during Ross’ car ride by way of the reporter simply driving the car. Ross decided not to use the footage of the car’s gauges that had been shot during the test drive since the footage was apparently “too blurry”. Toyota has called the news package a “deliberate manipulation“.

Image courtesy of Gawker.com

ABC News put out a statement on March 6th mentioning the accusations by Gawker.com that the Ross package was a doctored report and a flat out hoax, explaining the reasoning behind Ross’ editorial decision and maintaining that their reporting was accurate and did not misrepresent the facts such as Gawker has alleged. ABC News has since revised the video but has not retracted its report.

The auto-blog Jalopnik however has put together an excellent article on the issue and details how Prof. Gilbert was able to induce the unintentional acceleration on the repaired Toyota though “unrealistic” means. The Jalopnik article features a presentation by engineers at Exponent, a PR firm that helps companies manage disastrous and damaging recalls and is currently helping Toyota with their crisis, and while you might not be able to out-rightly call the Exponent video “unbiased” (Toyota is paying them after all), it does point out the way in which Prof. Gilbert’s methods aren’t accurate in terms of how these vehicles would operate in the real world. Toyota has also issued this statement concerning Prof. Gilbert and the ABC News package:

“As revealed in their testimony before Congress, Professor Gilbert’s Preliminary Report was commissioned by Sean Kane, a paid advocate for trial lawyers involved in litigation against Toyota and other automakers. Mr. Kane also appeared on the ABC News broadcast in support of the claim that Professor Gilbert’s demonstration revealed a flaw in the electronic throttle control system that could lead to “runaway” Toyota and Lexus vehicles. The relationship between Mr. Kane, Professor Gilbert and the trial lawyers who support Mr. Kane’s advocacy was not revealed by ABC News during the newscast, nor was Toyota offered an opportunity to view the demonstration or given time to respond.“

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