Toyota Wants Retraction from ABC News For Bogus Reporting on Their Recall

Toyota Wants Retraction from ABC News For Bogus Reporting on Their Recall

Toyota is demanding that ABC News apologize for and retract a story it aired nationally claiming to demonstrate how a Toyota vehicle could easily accelerate unintentionally. The story, reported by Brian Ross, its lead investigative reporter, featured a test conducted by David Gilbert, an Illinois professor who claimed to have found a way to induce unintended acceleration in Toyotas without triggering an error code that would allow technicians to diagnose the fault. The story included video of a surging tachometer in what appeared to be the vehicle Ross was riding in. Subsequently, it was learned the vehicle had actually been raced in neutral while parked in a parking lot and that Gilbert was a paid consultant for plaintiff attorneys suing Toyota.

Toyota also showed that Gilberts test could not be replicated under real-world conditions and that Gilberts wiring procedure could induce the same faults in many other manufacturers vehicles.

In a letter to ABC News, Toyota says Ross singularly failed in his basic duty as a journalist to disclose material information about Professor Gilbert that would have directly influenced his credibility with the audience and also failed to provide Toyota with an opportunity to examine Gilberts test before airing the story.

ABC News acknowledges in a letter to Toyota that the faked tachometer was an editorial error but declined to apologize for the story or retract it.

Meanwhile, reporter Ross has filed no more stories on the Toyota recall and is said by ABC News to be on a long-planned vacation.