Toyota dealerships: The cars are under several recalls. (Flickr photo)

Do you own one of the Toyota cars recalled by the company for unintended acceleration? Good, because many consumers are confused. At a time when cooperation would seem to be key, three of the principals — including Toyota, the federal National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and CTS Corp., the company that makes the recalled pedals, are feuding. Meanwhile, at presstime the feds announced that their investigation is spreading to include the possibility of electronic interference causing the problem.

The casualty may be the public’s need to know how to handle this burgeoning crisis. “The mess has spread,” says Barron’s.

Toyota North American boss Jim Lentz has been very visible as apologist in chief. “This is embarrassing to us,” he said during media appearances Monday, “but it doesn’t necessarily mean we have lost our edge on quality. Our reputation is based on safety.”

Toyota will lose sales: According to Kelley Blue Book, the resale value of Toyota’s recalled models is likely to erode by up to two percent on dealer lots this week. Still, there’s some evidence that consumers are snapping up the company’s used cars because they’re perceived as bargains.

Earlier today, Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood responded to complaints that NHTSA (one of his agencies) has let Toyota take the lead in engineering a fix for owners of the cars. According to LaHood, “They should have taken it seriously from the very beginning when we first started discussing it with them,” he said in an Associated Press interview today. “Maybe they were a little safety deaf in their North American office…”

Meanwhile, trouble is also brewing in CTS Corp., the Elkhart, Indiana firm that makes the 5.3 million pedal assemblies that Toyota has recalled. CTS doesn’t want to be the fall guy for Toyota, and has pointed out that it had no role in initiating the recall. And it is denying responsibility for unintended acceleration. “CTS believes that the rare slow return pedal phenomenon, which may occur in extreme environmental conditions,” it said in a statement. The company’s pedals “should absolutely not be linked with any sudden unintended acceleration incidents,” the company said.

CTS said that it wasn’t aware of any injuries or accidents “caused by the rare slow return pedal condition.”

Source:The "Spreading Mess" of Toyota's Sudden Acceleration Recalls Now Includes Investigation of Electronic Interference