Two weeks ago David Gilbert, a professor of auto technology at Southern Illinois University, Carbondale, testified in Congressional hearings investigating the safety issues underlying the recent recalls of more than 8.5 million Toyota vehicles around the world.

Gilbert suggested that incidents of unintended acceleration in the models could be linked to electronic throttles, an assertion Toyota stoutly denies. In a statement, the automaker said, ". . . the sequence and nature of manipulated faults in the Gilbert demonstration are completely unrealistic under real-world conditions and can easily be reproduced on a wide range of vehicles made by other manufacturers."

In his testing, the company claims that Gilbert altered a circuit in the accelerator pedal, thus rendering his conclusions invalid for cars actually being driven by consumers. Gilbert maintains, however, that he isolated a weakness in the throttles that is absent in vehicles made by other manufacturers.

Toyota scheduled a webcast for Monday, March 8 to specifically repudiate Gilbert's claim, part of an overall campaign by the automaker to illustrate the safety of its products and the extent of its efforts to correct the issues. The recalls and the Congressional investigation have proven to be a public relations nightmare for Toyota.

Eight models were involved in the various recalls for the sticking accelerator and a floor mat problem including Toyota's most popular cars, the Camry, Corolla, and Prius hybrid.