Insurer State Farm warned regulators about acceleration complaints in Toyotas

WASHINGTON — The nation's largest auto insurer alerted federal safety regulators on numerous occasions starting in 2007 about a rise in reports of unexpected acceleration in Toyotas, according to the insurer, State Farm.

The warnings, from a firm that maintains a vast store of crash data based on its customer base of more than 40 million, followed a stream of consumer complaints about the alleged defect. Regulators received the warnings more than a year before they pressed the automaker to issue recalls affecting millions of cars and trucks.

Congressional investigators are now focusing on whether the government reacted properly to years of complaints and other evidence regarding the acceleration problems.

The insurer's warnings to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) are likely to add to criticism that the agency missed or overlooked signs of trouble.

"When we see something that might be helpful, we pass it along," said Dick Luedke, a State Farm spokesman.

Luedke declined to go into detail about the alerts, except to characterize them as "numerous" and not "everyday" occurrences. He directed further questions to NHTSA.

NHTSA spokeswoman Karen Aldana said the agency received a claim letter from State Farm in September 2007 regarding a Camry crash.

"Our investigative staff reviewed the report and added the information to our complaint database," she said in a statement.

Aldana offered no comment on the other alerts from State Farm on Toyotas.

The State Farm warnings in the Toyota case echo ones the insurer made more than a decade ago about accidents involving Firestone tires and the Ford Explorer. When congressional investigators at the time discovered that the agency hadn't heeded the State Farm warnings, the furor in part led to legislation that created an "early warning" system for auto safety.

In 2000, the agency's treatment of the Firestone and Ford warnings outraged some members of Congress. After hearings that year, Congress passed the TREAD Act, which was supposed to have the safety agency create an early warning system to gather and analyze more information on auto safety to eliminate defects sooner.

The information was to have included defect-related claims involving death and injury, the number of paid warranty claims, and other reports from manufacturers.

But a 2004 report from the Department of Transportation's inspector general found that cost estimates for the project had increased and that the computer system "does not have the advanced analytical capabilities originally envisioned."

Gas-electric hybrid

model is recalled

TOKYO — Toyota said Monday it is recalling the Prius gas-electric hybrid that went on sale last year in Japan for braking problems. The recall will include two other hybrid models — the Lexus HS250h sedan and the Sai, which is sold only in Japan.

Separately, a Toyota official told The Associated Press that the hybrid will be recalled in Europe in addition to Japan.

The Associated Press