Study reveals electronic throttle is probable cause of Toyota unintended acceleration problems. A new scientific study published by Quality Control Systems Corporation of Crownsville Maryland has found substantial evidence that the sudden, unintended acceleration problem that has plagued so many vehicle models for years is linked to Toyota electronic throttle control system.

Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., chairman of the House Energy Committee, expressed dissatisfaction with responses given by Toyota Motor Corp., during a special committee meeting last week. The meeting was part of an investigation into whether Toyota and its top executives, as well as the Obama and Bush administrations, have responded adequately to consumer complaints of sudden and unintended acceleration in some Toyota car and truck models.

Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. announced Tuesday that it is slamming the brakes on the manufacturing and sales of many of its bestselling models in the U.S. The decision to suspend production and sales follows a series of safety recalls involving millions of vehicles.

Today Toyota Motor Corp. announced a suspension in sales of eight of its models linked to unintended acceleration. The company's problems began in November 2009, when it recalled more than 4 million vehicles, blaming the problem on defective floor mats. However, subsequent investigations and continued vehicle crashes began to call that theory into question. Last week, Toyota announced a recall of nearly 3 million additional vehicles, saying there was evidence of problems with the accelerator pedal. The suspension announced today includes Toyota's top-seller, the Camry, models since 2007, as well as the 2009-2010 model year RAV4, Corolla and Matrix, the 2008-2010 model year Sequoia, the 2007-2010 model year Tundra, the 2005-2010 model year Avalon and the 2010 model year Highlander.

Toyota announced today that it would recall approximately 2.3 million vehicles in an effort to correct sticking accelerator pedals. This recall is not related to the current on-going recall of 4.2 million Toyota cars and trucks for floor mat pedal entrapment, which Toyota says is the cause of so many reports of sudden and unintended acceleration.

Toxic E. coli bacteria was found in two samples of Nestle USA's Toll House refrigerated cookie dough made at a Virginia plant, conjuring up bad memories of a similar outbreak just last summer that sickened at least 72 people across 30 states. Nestle said the contaminated dough did not leave the factory so no recall would be issued.

The Firestone tire flap of 2000 topped The Business Insider's list of the 15 Biggest Public Relations Disasters of the Decade. The blog-style webzine likely gave Bridgestone, the manufacturer of Firestone tires, top spot on the list because its handling of the situation ultimately lead to hundreds of injuries and deaths.

Unintended acceleration problems and a lackluster response to them have created a public relations fiasco for Toyota, and the quandary seems only to worsen. In September, the automaker announced a record recall of 3.8 million vehicles -- a number that quickly grew to encompass more than 4,260,000 as possible causes and solutions were studied.

Toyota announced last week that it has found a way to correct the potential for millions of its cars and trucks to accelerate unintentionally. The car manufacturer has been exploring feasible solutions since it announced in a safety advisory on September 29 that it would recall 3.8 million vehicles. In analyzing the problem, most of Toyota's attention was given to the driver's side floor mats, which the company says can slide forward and jam the accelerator pedal if improperly secured or mismatched. Rather than issue a recall of the floor mats, however, Toyota said it would develop a vehicle-based solution.

So much confusion has arisen from Toyota's announcement to recall 3.8 million vehicles because of their potential to accelerate suddenly and unexpectedly. While Toyota zeroed in on driver's side floor mats as the cause of the problem, saying that they could slide forward and jam the accelerator pedal in full open position, several media venues speculated about the solution. Would the fix amount to a simple floor mat repair? Or would it involve redesigning the gas pedal and / or the electronic-based braking and accelerator controls?