Toyota Knocks ABC News Report

By NEAL BOUDETTE

Toyota Motor Corp. on Monday criticized ABC News, saying a recent report it ran on sudden acceleration used video showing an engine revving in a parked Toyota vehicle, not a car that was being driven on a road.

The car maker raised questions about the ABC video as part of a Webcast intended to rebut critics who have alleged electronics problems could be causing Toyota vehicles to accelerate suddenly on their own.

"An engine responds very differently in park than when it is being driven and is under load," said Matthew Schwall, an engineer at Exponent Inc., a consulting firm Toyota has hired to evaluate its electronics and the charges of its critics.

In the Webcast, Mr. Schwall showed still frames from ABC's broadcast showing a Toyota Avalon's instrument panel, with certain warning lights illuminated that are on when a car is in park.

An ABC spokeswoman said the network had no comment on Toyota's presentation and added it was preparing its own story about it.

Mr. Schwall also was able to cause the engines of three non-Toyota vehicles to race when their electronics were modified the same way Toyota vehicles were rewired in a study that was presented to Congress recently.

That study was produced by David W. Gilbert, a professor at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, and suggested sudden acceleration incidents could be caused by electronics problems.

"Dr. Gilbert's study is unrealistic," Mr. Schwall said in the Webcast.

After causing the engine of a BMW 325 sedan to race suddenly, Mr. Schwall said the engine computer reported no faults with the electronics.

"There is no defect with this vehicle," Mr. Schwall said. "The engine only accelerated because we rewired the same way as in Dr. Gilbert's method."

Toyota has blamed floor mats and stickiness in some of its accelerators for the reports of sudden acceleration.

Write to Neal Boudette at neal.boudette@wsj.com

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