HOUSTON -- Last December, a car crashed into a strip center soccer store in Kingwood. As it plowed inside, 45-year-old Debbie MacAfee was killed. Another woman survived, but is still recovering from her injuries.

Video

Carmakers: Driver Error, Not Mechanical Failure, Causes Cars To Accelerate Without Warning

Carol Parish was the driver that day. She still cries about the crash, five months later.

"It's a horrible hole that is shot through your spirit," Parish said.

She said that she was backing out of a parking space, and then started to pull away. That's when she said her car took on a life of its own.

"The minute it hit drive, it just shot out like a rocket," Parish said. "As it shot forward, I just kept thinking it would stop. And it went right in through the glass."

Parish is convinced that her foot was not on the gas pedal. She blames a problem that she and others say is causing cars to run away, out of control.

"My car wreck brought so much grief to so many families and people involved. I'd never heard of it," Parish said.

It's called sudden acceleration -- a problem that drivers claim causes a car to suddenly take off for no reason. While drivers believe it's a real issue, the government and automakers say it is a myth that has never been proved.

But as the debate goes on, so do the accidents, according to industry experts.

"We have seen literally hundreds of deaths and thousands of serious injuries in crashes caused by unintended acceleration," said Clarence Ditlow, with the Center for Auto Safety.

Ditlow is head of the Center for Auto Safety in Washington. He's one of the authors of a new book claiming sudden acceleration is real and automakers know about it.

Their research shows dozens of models have had high rates of sudden acceleration complaints, beginning when electronic controls like cruise control became more common. They said it has continued as cars became more advanced.

"When manufacturers go to new electronic control systems, such as drive-by wire, I expect every manufacturer in the next few years to have incidents of sudden acceleration," Ditlow said.

Marian Armstrong has been fighting Nissan over sudden acceleration for more than a decade. She says the problem caused her 300 ZX to crash in a Greenway Plaza parking lot in 1992. She hit a building and a pole, putting her in a hospital.

She sued Nissan, claiming a defect caused the accident and that the company knew about it.

Armstrong won her lawsuit.

A Houston appeals court approved the verdict, saying evidence showed Nissan had recorded numerous reports of similar accidents and did not tell the government or its customers.

The case is in its final appeal.

A Nissan spokesman said the company believes it was driver error, and not a defect.

The debate rolls on -- are drivers pushing the wrong pedals or is there really a defect?

A 1989 federal study said the likely cause was drivers. It said there is no proof of a widespread defect.

Automakers back up the claim with videos, saying even if sudden acceleration did occur, brakes would stop the car.

But drivers like Parish and Armstrong said they did slam on the brakes, but the car was already out of control.

"Sure brakes can stop the car, but what happens if there's a child in the road before the brakes bring you to a stop? It's that first 100 feet that's so crucial," Ditlow said.

Ditlow said all the questions should force the government to reopen the book on sudden acceleration.

Houston-area Rep. Nick Lampson is asking for just that.

"There should be a resolution to the issue to give both sides the confidence level that enough work and enough study has been done," Lampson said.

Government safety investigators are currently looking into sudden acceleration claims in 2002 and 2003 Toyota Camrys, Solaras and Lexus ES 300s.

Toyota told News2Houston that it is studying the complaints, but no defect has been found or any cases proved.

Parish's Lexus model is not a part of that study.

A Lexus spokesman told News2Houston that the accident is tragic, but because a fatality was involved and the possibility of legal action, it would not be appropriate to speculate about the circumstances or cause.

The National Highway Traffic Administration encourages anyone who experiences acceleration problems to file a complaint by calling (888) 327-4236 or by filling out an online form at www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/ivoq/index.cfm.

News2Houston worked on this story through their local newspaper partnership with Houston Community Newspapers and the Kingwood Observer.

On The Net:

National Highway Traffic Administration
Center for Auto Safety