Toyota's assertions of driver error suggest that BLACK BOXES are more reliable than previously attested

NATIONAL - According the the Los Angeles Times (7/29, Bensinger, Vartabedian) reports that Toyota has often dismissed the data collected by its event data recorders as "unreliable" and collected by "unproven technology. ... Now, facing continued claims that its vehicles are defective, Toyota appears to have done an about-face" and "has been citing data from black boxes in Toyota and Lexus vehicles to suggest that driver error, rather than mechanical or electronic defects, is causing sudden acceleration.

In court cases, regulatory filings and dealings with customers, Toyota has for years branded the devices -called event data recorders, or EDRs - as unreliable. It has also said the tools used to read the reports are prototypes. 'It sounds duplicitous when all along Toyota has been saying this is unreliable, and now they are using it as their defense and they are not releasing the data to the public,' said Henry Jasney, senior counsel at Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety."

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BLACK BOX ♦ Truck in Fatal Crash Lacked Recorder ♦ Truck driver may have been on cell phone

Federal investigators say there was no electronic recorder on a truck that crossed the median and killed the truck driver and 10 others.

A National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) spokesman said, “along with lacking a recorder, the manual log kept by the driver was destroyed in the fire caused by the crash.” The manual log is generally one part of the investigation that is looked at to determine how long a driver had been on the road.

The truck crossed the median striking a van carrying a group to a wedding. Two young children survived the crash.

The investigation revealed that the truck driver’s cell phone was active around the time of the crash.