Complaints to U.S. regulators of unintended acceleration in Toyota Motor Corp (TM.N) (7203.T) vehicles are down sharply as separate government and expert reviews of the matter move forward.
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration documents made available to a National Academies of Science panel examining vehicle electronics as a possible cause of unwanted acceleration industrywide illustrate volatile complaint trends for Toyota and other automakers.
The quality of Toyota's cars -- once a benchmark for the industry -- has come under scrutiny after the world's top automaker recalled more than 10 million vehicles globally since late last year, mostly for problems of unintended acceleration.
Reduced complaints for Toyota this summer, which regulators believe is partly due to ebbing publicity, do not alone substantiate the automaker's contention that its electronic systems are sound. But the drop could be an indicator that fixes for more than 8 million recalled vehicles worldwide for mechanical and equipment problems linked to unwanted acceleration are working.
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