Toyota Owners Say Fix Didn’t Work

This is one of our editors' picks from our ongoing roundup of Investigations Elsewhere.

Several Toyota owners whose cars are back on the road after being serviced as part of the automaker’s massive recall have told federal regulators that the fix didn’t work, reports the Los Angeles Times.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received at least seven complaints in the last two weeks from owners who say that after their cars were serviced, they "still surged out of control," according to the Times. While those reports represent just a tiny fraction of the total number of cars recalled – and the agency hasn’t yet verified their claims – they highlight a concern shared by some safety experts that Toyota’s recall focused on the wrong issues, namely floor mats and gas pedals instead of the electronic throttle system.

In recent congressional testimony, Toyota officials held firm to the company’s stance that electronics are not to blame for the sudden acceleration. But State Farm Insurance presented data suggesting "a strong connection between the introduction of electronic throttle control, also known as drive by wire, and events where drivers of Toyotas couldn't control their cars," according to the Detroit News.

According to the Times report, the NHTSA has pledged to look into whether Toyota electronics are a cause of the problem, and Toyota has commissioned a private study of its throttle system. Toyota has called its solutions "effective and durable." But one of the recent complaints tells a different story: "The fix done by Toyota is not the fix for the acceleration problem," it says.