In the wake of the widespread recalls that caused an uproar in the national media, some Toyota owners who experienced the well-publicized problems with uncontrolled acceleration told a National Academy of Sciences panel about their specific cases, according to the Associated Press.
The news organization says that the panel was convened to review the evidence for possible causes of the unintended acceleration issues, and that it expects to issue a report on the problem by the fall of next year.
The issues were initially thought to have been caused by floor mats causing gas pedals to become trapped, but the testimony in front of the NAS panel was mixed, the AP said, with some witnesses saying that it couldn't have been the fault of floor mats.
One owner of a 2010 Toyota Corolla, Richard Zappa, told the panel that there was no way a floor mat caused his experience with the acceleration problem. According to the AP, Zappa said "the gas pedal was stuck firm down. There was no carpet over this accelerator. I don't care what they say."
The AP reports that separate investigations being conducted by the U.S. Department of Transportation and NASA have similarly failed to reach any concrete conclusions on the matter. However, the news organization did say that black box recordings from some vehicles indicated that brakes were not applied, meaning that simple errors from drivers may have caused the problem.
Keeping calm while at the controls of a malfunctioning car is paramount, experts say, and can mean the difference between a scary experience and an accident resulting in higher car insurance rates or worse.