NHTSA Office of Defects Investigation
Defect Petition DP15-007: Low-speed surging
- Closed
NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation opened Defect Petition DP15-007 on October 19, 2015 and closed it on February 25, 2016. NHTSA's investigations file lists the 2010 Lexus HS 250 Hybrid for it.
Updated daily from NHTSA's investigations file
Key facts
- NHTSA number
- DP15-007 (also written DP15007)
- Investigation type
- Defect Petition A petition asking NHTSA to open a defect investigation; NHTSA grants or denies it, and granting one opens an investigation.
- Status
- Closed February 25, 2016
- Opened
- Closed
- Vehicle or equipment manufacturer
- Toyota Motor Corporation
- Component
- Vehicle Speed Control
- Vehicles and equipment
- 2010 Lexus HS 250 Hybrid
A recall appears here only when NHTSA's investigations file links one to the investigation; NHTSA's summary or record can name others.
NHTSA's summary
As NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation wrote it for Defect Petition DP15-007.
In a letter dated September 15, 2015, a consumer submitted a petition to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) alleging that software defects caused an accident experienced by his wife in their model year 2010 Lexus HS250H vehicle as she was attempting to park the vehicle. The petition requests that NHTSA have Toyota correct software defects in their electronic throttle control software and then issue a national recall of all effected [sic] vehicles and have Toyota replace the old faulty code with the new safer code. NHTSA has reviewed the material cited by the petitioner.
The results of this review and our evaluation of the petition are set forth in the DP15-007 Petition Analysis Report, published in its entirety in the Federal Register and included in the repository for this investigation, available at www.safercar.gov. The Agency performed a thorough technical review of the concerns raised in the petition.
The petitioner believes that the information from the Event Data Recorder (EDR), which records certain pieces of information for five seconds prior to a crash, shows that for the last 0.8 seconds prior to hitting the brick building the accelerator pedal was wide open at 100% at the same time the brake pedal was being depressed. Our analysis of data recovered from the EDR and from the engine management Hybrid Control Unit (HCU), together with vehicle inspection information contained in the petition, indicate that:1) Sometime during the last 0.512 seconds of the event time frame the accelerator pedal was fully applied; 2) At the airbag trigger point (EDR t = 0s) immediately following the vehicle's impact with the building, the stop lamp switch status was ON, indicating that the brake had been applied at least enough to illuminate the brake lights; 3) At no time during the event were the brake and the accelerator pedals depressed simultaneously (based on information from the HCU); and 4) The braking system on the vehicle was fully functional and was capable of stopping a vehicle at full throttle if meaningfully applied in sufficient time. After a thorough assessment of the material submitted by the petitioner, the information already in NHTSA's possession, and the potential risks to safety implicated by the petitioner's allegations, it is unlikely that an order concerning the notification and remedy of a safety-related defect would result from any proceeding initiated bygranting the petition.
After full consideration of the potential for finding a safety related defect in the vehicle, and in view of NHTSA's enforcement priorities and its previous investigations into this issue, the petition is denied.
Vehicles and equipment listed for this investigation
NHTSA's investigations file lists these vehicles and equipment for Defect Petition DP15-007. A listed model year means only that an investigation names it; it says nothing about any particular vehicle. Model years with a try.vin recall page link to that page's NHTSA investigations section.
Lexus
Lexus HS 250 Hybrid
What an NHTSA investigation is
NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) looks into possible safety defects in vehicles and equipment, often after owner complaints. An investigation usually starts as a Preliminary Evaluation, or as a Recall Query when it concerns whether an existing recall covers the right vehicles or fixes the problem, and ODI can upgrade it to a more detailed Engineering Analysis. A Defect Petition asks NHTSA to open an investigation, and Audit and Equipment Queries are administrative investigations into whether companies complied with federal vehicle safety requirements, such as reporting, recall and certification rules.
An open investigation is not a finding that a safety defect exists, and NHTSA can close one without a recall.
To see whether a specific vehicle has an open recall, enter its VIN at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Lexus VIN check: decode a VIN to see its year, make and model.
Sources
NHTSA's investigation record for DP15-007
Investigation details come from NHTSA's investigations file, which try.vin imports once a day. The investigation types are described from the U.S. Department of Transportation Inspector General's May 2023 report on NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation, NHTSA's petition rules (49 CFR Parts 552 and 557) and NHTSA's Office of Defects Investigation procedures. How try.vin reads NHTSA investigations.