Here’s the skinny on Toyota’s stick gas pedal problem.
Between 2006 and November 2009, there were a total of 5 deaths and 17 injuries in 13 Toyota vehicle crashes officially confirmed to involve unintended acceleration.
Four of those deaths occurred in a single incident: the August 2009 crash that killed an off-duty California Highway patrolman and his family in a Lexus.
The stuck-pedal recall of 2.3 million vehicles announced last week affects Toyota’s 2009-2010 RAV4, Corolla and Matrix models; the 2005-2010 Avalon; 2010 Highlander; 2007-2010 Tundra and the 2008-2010 Sequoia; and some 2007-2010 Camrys (only those with gas pedal assemblies made by a specific Toyota supplier; your dealer can check). No Lexus or Scion models are involved.
A Toyota spokesman has said that the carmaker is very close to announcing a solution to the issue for cars here in the U.S. Toyota still needs to get regulatory approval for a proposed repair in the U.S. and in Europe before a fix can be made.