U.S. Investigates Toyota Corolla, Matrix for Stalling

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http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601203&sid=aUWAF1nTVw1U

U.S. Investigates Toyota Corolla, Matrix for Stalling

By Angela Greiling Keane

Dec. 4 (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp.’s Corolla and Matrix vehicles are being investigated by U.S. regulators for “randomly” stalling.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opened an investigation into the 2006 model-year of the cars after receiving 26 complaints about engine malfunctions while driving, according to a statement on the agency’s Web site today. Toyota City, Japan-based Toyota is the world’s biggest automaker.

Toyota last week said it plans to repair accelerator pedals on more than 4 million vehicles in the U.S. including some Camry and Prius cars as part of the biggest recall ever for the automaker. Toyota also recalled 110,000 Tundra pickup trucks after the U.S. announced an investigation into frame corrosion that can damage brake lines and dislodge spare tires.

“They are asking us to assess the frequency and scope of this problem and to get back to them,” said John Hanson, a spokesman for Toyota’s U.S. sales unit in Torrance, California. “Once we do that, they will then decide whether there should be an official engineering analysis. This is the typical first step.” snip

Stalling Engines

The complaints “allege stalls occurring randomly while driving, including some on highways and some in intersections,” NHTSA, which regulates automotive safety, said. Some complaints also described trouble restarting the engine or recurring stalls, it said.