Sikes : The report has threatened to overwhelm Toyota attempts to re-sale after a series of punishing remember.
U.S. safety investigators said in a separate statement it had not yet been able to identify any evidence to support or refute the claim that the 2008-style sped out of control near San Diego a week ago.
Safety National Highway Traffic Administration engineers led mixed in an attempt to re-ring reported by the driver, James Sykes, but was unable to do so, the agency said in her first calf and high-profile analysis.
He added: “We warn people that our work continues and we may never know exactly what happened with this car,” said NHTSA.
Sykes, 61, said in a call to telephone operators in emergency situations The Prius, the race was out of control for about 20 minutes before he was able to slow the car and returned to stand with the training safe from California Highway Patrol officer who pulled alongside him.
But Toyota said it found no evidence that Sykes was applied to the brakes as strongly as he had claimed he should have been able to stop the model by doing so, or by shifting to neutral or off the electronic ignition key.
March 8 incident comes at a crucial time for Toyota.
For the automotive industry has been struggling for almost two months to reassure the jittery public that it turned a corner in dealing with safety issues that led to the call to 8.5 million vehicles around the world.
Although the Toyota in March U.S. sales have increased sharply because of cash rebates and financing offers zero percent, as some analysts said the long-term damage to the auto industry trade safety crisis remains difficult to assess.
Check the model, and means for the auto industry is one of the most important, also stepped up to the auto industry in the United States of ongoing regulatory investigations and Congress to speed up the unintended consequences.
Toyota plans to cut production model by 10 percent starting this month due to slow sales, said a source familiar with the plans told Reuters.
Model 2010 is the subject of recall in February of braking problems, and the model years 2004 to 2009 Prius hybrid were included in the recall of October so loose mats.
But for San Diego was the first to lead the examination of the Federal style of unintended acceleration, something consumers in the United States complained in a range of other Toyota models, including the best-selling Camry.
‘Search for the ghost’
Police in California, said she had no reason to doubt the basis of the Sykes-burning brakes in his car and observations of the officer who helped him.
Toyota, which held a news conference in San Diego to question Sykes’ account of events, and declined to comment directly on whether Sykes had misled investigators.
But said Toyota Prius, his study showed that the car was driving with the brakes lightly applied over and over – sometimes 250 during the period of the accident.
And overcome the brakes in the model would be to reduce engine power to the driver of the car was applied “moderate to heavy” pressure on the brake pedal Sykes as claimed, it said.
Sykes could not be reached for comment. San Diego-based law firm that represents him and he said he would not comment until the NHTSA has concluded its investigation.
Toyota has said it could not determine the cause of cases of unintended acceleration of consumers had been informed after bad mats timely and accelerator pedals sticky. Automaker recalled more than 6 million vehicles in the United States for this pair of problems since October.
Commentators have focused on the possibility that drivers can fall into error – hit the accelerator instead of the brake – or Toyota could be subject to a software glitch or other problem is that it is difficult to be repeated.
Toyota said again on Monday there was no evidence of this last possibility – on the assumption that some critics have dubbed “ghost in the machine.”
“The hunt for ghosts and seems to be ignored or fly in the face of known facts and said,” Mike Nichols, spokesman for Toyota outside the stadium in San Diego for the auto industry with proven safety systems on the model for journalists.
“There is no evidence that the system that heals itself in mysterious circumstances,” said Michaels.
Kelley Blue Book, “said analyst Bill James Toyota needs to do more to discredit one of the unintended acceleration of the report to reassure consumers. “Even to have a more definitive answer, remains the elephant in the room,” Bell said in an e-mail.
Harm the image of the little
ALG, and Santa Barbara, California-based firm that tracks vehicle resale values, and said Toyota recalls damaged the brand. The newspaper said the poll of the views of consumers showed Toyota dropped to No. 6 from No. 1 in perceived quality.
In response to weak demand, Toyota will probably need to extend the aggressive cuts through June, the ALG.
Sykes said the police told reporters that he was driving on the highway when unexpectedly surged forward and reach speeds of more than 90 miles per hour.
NHTSA two investigators joined Toyota for the experts to study the model, including on board diagnostic system designed to record information about the car in various systems.
NHTSA has been criticized by Congress for not aggressively investigating complaints against Toyota.
Authorities believe the problems in the floor mat of Toyota, Lexus and the United States linked to five deaths crash since 2007. 47 accident and death of the last reports over the past decade have been reported as a result of unintended acceleration in Toyota, according to NHTSA.
There are reports of 59 deaths linked to cases of unintended acceleration of the other car manufacturers during the same period, says NHTSA