Toyota’s Acceleration Complaints Cite 34 Deaths

Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles have been linked to 34 deaths by consumers filing complaints with the U.S. government over unexpected acceleration, according to the Transportation Department, Bloomberg reported.

The total jumped by 13 fatalities since Jan. 27 as nine more filings were added to a database the department’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration uses to track deaths, injuries and consumer complaints.

“It is normal for NHTSA to receive an increase in consumer complaints after a recall is announced and the public learns of a safety defect,” Olivia Alair, a spokeswoman for the department, said in an e-mail yesterday. “The agency is quickly gathering more data on all of these additional complaints to help guide our examination of sudden acceleration, the Prius braking system, as well as other safety issues.”

The Toyota City, Japan-based company, the world’s biggest automaker, has recalled almost 8 million vehicles on five continents to repair defects linked to unintended acceleration. At least three U.S. congressional committees plan hearings into how Toyota and NHTSA have handled complaints.

The automaker also announced a recall Feb. 9 involving braking in 437,000 Toyota hybrids, including the Prius, the top- selling vehicle in Japan. On the same day, U.S. safety officials said they were reviewing Toyota’s Corolla, the world’s best- selling car, after complaints about how it steered.