Safety regulators in the U.S. have rejected a Rhode Island man's petition for an investigation into Toyota Corolla compact sedans over supposed low-speed acceleration issues.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration couldn't find any issues with the throttle or transmission systems on a 2010 Corolla owned by engineer Bob Ruginis despite putting in more than 2,000 miles on the car, according to NHTSA documents filed on Saturday.
The agency's Ohio lab also determined that the brakes were able to keep the vehicle stationary at full throttle during testing.
"The petitioner alleges incidents of low-speed surging, in which the brakes failed to stop the vehicle, causing a crash," said NHTSA about the petition.
Ruginis claimed a Corolla, being driven by his wife, Kathy, "surged" while she was making a right turn into a parking space and crashed into a Jeep. The brakes failed to stop the car fast enough to prevent a crash, according to the Associated Press.
Furthermore, Ruginis said the gas pedal was also in the "idle position" when the incident took place and the speed of impact was 7.5 miles per hour.
Investigators disagreed, saying there was no chance that acceleration occurred if the brake pedal was pressed properly.
"Vehicle testing demonstrated that acceleration would not occur if the brake pedal had been applied with any meaningful force," NHTSA's investigators wrote.
An additional 163 similar acceleration claims were also filed with the NHTSA regarding similar issues in Corollas but investigators determined in most cases drivers either pressed the gas instead of the brake, braked too late or pressed both the gas and brake, according to NHTSA documents.
The ruling is huge for Toyota as an investigation could have led to a recall of approximately 1.7 million 2006-2010 Toyota Corolla sedans.
As of Saturday, Ruginis had not "evaluated" the NHTSA documents yet but did tell the Associated Press that the lab tested his vehicle in colder temperatures than the approximate 74 degrees when his wife crashed.
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