Auto giant Toyota was wrongly blamed for many crashes involving sudden acceleration, data reviewed by the Department of Transportation has revealed. The Wall Street Journal reports:

The U.S. Department of Transportation has analyzed dozens of data recorders from Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles involved in accidents blamed on sudden acceleration and found that at the time of the crashes, throttles were wide open and the brakes were not engaged, people familiar with the findings said.

The results suggest that some drivers who said their Toyota and Lexus vehicles surged out of control were mistakenly flooring the accelerator when they intended to jam on the brakes. But the findings don’t exonerate Toyota from two known issues blamed for sudden acceleration in its vehicles: sticky accelerator pedals and floor mats that can trap accelerator pedals to the floor.

It would seem that some legitimate claims involving error on Toyota’s part sparked drivers who caused their own wrecks to pile on, blaming the automaker for their own errors. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigated:

The data recorders analyzed by NHTSA were selected by the agency, not Toyota, based on complaints the drivers had filed with the government.

The findings are consistent with a 1989 government-sponsored study that blamed similar driver mistakes for a rash of sudden-acceleration reports involving Audi 5000 sedans.

The Toyota findings, which haven’t been released by NHTSA, support Toyota’s position that sudden-acceleration reports involving its vehicles weren’t caused by electronic glitches in computer-controlled throttle systems, as some safety advocates and plaintiffs’ attorneys have alleged. More than 100 people have sued the auto maker claiming crashes were the result of faulty electronics.

The federal government has received thousands of complaints alleging faulty Toyota vehicles caused crashes, including 75 crashes resulting in the deaths of 93 people. Total fatal accidents confirmed by the federal government to have been caused by a Toyota error? One.

In fact, Transportation Department officials confirm to the Wall Street Journal that the federal government has yet to find any electrical problems in Toyota vehicles. The only problems confirmed by the government are those Toyota admitted exist: Sticky pedals and floor mats.

Incidentally, these federal findings confirm tests conducted and published by Toyota: The floor mats and sticky pedals caused problems, but there is nothing wrong with the electrical system. Driver error was widely found to be the cause of acceleration accidents.

This shouldn’t come as a surprise. Washington Democrats went after Toyota before having the facts because the facts didn’t matter. There was an opportunity to potentially put an effective competitor of government-owned and union-run General Motors and Chrysler out of business.