Ken Bensinger
Los Angeles Times


Ralph Vartabedian
Los Angeles Times

Citation
Based on five months of tenacious reporting, Ken Bensinger and Ralph Vartabedian of the Los Angeles Times chronicled the problem of unintended acceleration in Toyotas. The two reporters methodically compiled a body of work that challenged Toyota's explanation that the acceleration problems were caused by a glitch involving floor mats. Although their work was repeatedly disparaged by Toyota, it consistently was proven to be on target and helped prod the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to take actions it had resisted for years. As Los Angeles Times Editor Russell W. Stanton wrote in his nomination letter, Bensinger and Vartabedian "challenged assumptions, developed their own evidence and built a compelling case of corporate malfeasance and regulatory indulgence."

Excerpt
Eric Weiss was stopped at a busy Long Beach intersection last month when he said his 2008 Toyota Tacoma pickup unexpectedly started accelerating, forcing him to stand on the brakes to keep the bucking truck from plowing into oncoming cars.

Toyota Motor Corp. says the gas pedal design in Weiss' truck and more than 4 million other Toyota and Lexus vehicles makes them vulnerable to being trapped open by floor mats, and on Wednesday, it announced a costly recall to fix the problem.

But Weiss is convinced his incident wasn't caused by a floor mat. He said he removed the mats in his truck months earlier on the advice of his Toyota dealer after his truck suddenly accelerated and rear-ended a BMW.

"The brakes squealed and the engine roared," the 52-year-old cabinet maker said of the most recent episode. "I don't want to drive the truck anymore, but I don't want anyone else to, either."

Amid widening concern over unintended acceleration events, including an Aug. 28 crash near San Diego that killed a California Highway Patrol officer and his family, Toyota has repeatedly pointed to "floor mat entrapment" as the problem.

But accounts from motorists such as Weiss, interviews with auto safety experts and a Times review of thousands of federal traffic safety incident reports all point to another potential cause: the electronic throttles that have replaced mechanical systems in recent years.

The Times found that complaints of sudden acceleration in many Toyota and Lexus vehicles shot up almost immediately after the automaker adopted the so-called drive-by-wire system over the last decade. That system uses sensors, microprocessors and electric motors -- rather than a traditional link such as a steel cable -- to connect the driver's foot to the engine.

For some Toyota models, reports of unintended acceleration increased more than fivefold after drive-by-wire systems were adopted, according to the review of thousands of consumer complaints filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Toyota first installed electronic throttles in 2002 model year Lexus ES and Camry sedans. Total complaints of sudden acceleration for the Lexus and Camry in the 2002-04 model years averaged 132 a year. That's up from an average of 26 annually for the 1999-2001 models, the Times review found.

The average number of sudden-acceleration complaints involving the Tacoma jumped more than 20 times, on average, in the three years after Toyota's introduction of drive-by-wire in these trucks in 2005. Increases were also found on the hybrid Prius, among other models.

Toyota spokesman Brian Lyons said the automaker could not explain the trend. But Toyota has consistently held that electronic control systems, including drive-by-wire, are not to blame.


Biography
Ken Bensinger

Since 2007, Ken Bensinger has been a staff writer for the Los Angeles Times. As a business enterprise reporter, projects have included covering investigations, profiles, and news analysis among others for the business section. As an industry reporter, he covered US and import brands as well as the bankruptcies of GM and Chrysler, auto industry collapse and the electrification of transportation. Prior to his current post, Bensinger worked for SmartMoney magazine and was in charge of investigations as well as banking coverage. Before joining SmartMoney, Bensinger was a freelance journalist working as a correspondent for Variety, Christian Science Monitor and other publications in Mexico. He also spent time writing for The Wall Street Journal, covering the art market beat. He earned his degree from Duke University.

Ralph Vartabedian

Ralph Vartabedian has spent nearly thirty years with the Los Angeles Times. He currently holds the position of National Correspondent but has also worked as a deputy business editor and staff writer, both in Orange County and at the Washington, DC bureau. Prior to joining the Los Angeles Times, he worked for the Minneapolis Star as a business writer and for the Kalamazoo Gazette. He won Associated Press News Executives Council Award for news writing for his 1997 piece, "Boeing to Acquire Douglas, Creating Aerospace Behemoth." He has also won the Gerald Leoh Award for Business Writing and the Edward J. Meeman Award for Energy Reporting. He has also be honored by the Greater Los Angeles Press Club, by placing first for business news writing. He earned both his BA and MA degrees from the University of Michigan.