Toyota defect petition DP11001
Frontal Air Bag Non-deployment. NHTSA’s Office of Defects Investigation opened this defect petition about the frontal on 1 model year (2008). Opened Apr 7, 2011, closed Aug 19, 2011 after 4 months without a recall. closed
What NHTSA says
Source: Office of Defects Investigation, as filedThe Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) received a defect petition requesting that it open an investigation of model year (MY) 2008 Toyota Corolla vehicles for the failure of the frontal air bags to deploy during an alleged serious crash. The petitioner alleges that the frontal air bags in their MY 2008 Corolla failed to deploy during a 55-mph frontal impact with a large animal (a deer).The petitioner also filed a complaint with the agency (see ODI 10327470 for further details of the incident and the petition submitted to the agency).ODI has reviewed the petition, assessed consumer complaints on the MY 2008 Toyota Corolla and similar vehicles, analyzed statistics derived from NHTSA's Fatality Analysis Reporting System (FARS) and its National Automotive Sampling System (NASS), and evaluated crash tests of the subject vehicles. Based on its review, ODI does not believe that a safety-related defect trend currently exists for air bag non-deployment in the subject vehicles. Therefore, in view of the need to allocate and prioritize NHTSA's limited resources to accomplish the agency's safety mission, the petition is denied. However, the agency will continue to monitor this event and will take further action if warranted by changing future circumstances. For more information, see the Federal Register notice in the DP11-001 file (www-odi.nhtsa.dot.gov/defects).
A Defect Petition is a petition from a member of the public asking NHTSA to open a defect investigation; the agency grants or denies it and publishes the reasons. The summary is the agency’s own text from its investigation file, unedited; the opening and closing resumes with the full reasoning are on NHTSA’s site under this number.
What this means for an owner
Source: and what happens nextAn investigation is not a finding that a defect exists, and it puts no duty on anyone. NHTSA opens a Preliminary Evaluation when complaints and other reports suggest a condition worth asking the manufacturer about; it upgrades to an Engineering Analysis when the answers warrant testing; it closes either when it recommends a recall, when the manufacturer recalls on its own, or when no defect trend is found. The agency’s own goals are about four months for a petition, eight for a Preliminary Evaluation or a Recall Query and eighteen for an Engineering Analysis; many run longer.
This one closed without a recall. That means NHTSA found no defect trend it chose to act on at the time, or the manufacturer addressed the condition another way (a service campaign or a bulletin, which have their own pages). A closed file can be reopened if new reports arrive.
Model years it names
Source: as NHTSA filed themAlso named: 2008 Toyota Corolla.
A vehicle page’s investigation list carries the same action; a name here is the scope NHTSA opened, not a list of affected VINs.
Common questions
Source: NHTSA Office of Defects InvestigationIs DP11001 a recall?
No. A defect petition is NHTSA asking questions, not a recall. A safety recall carries an NHTSA campaign number and a duty to repair for free; this one closed without one. Whether one particular vehicle has an open recall is a VIN question at nhtsa.gov/recalls.
Is DP11001 still open?
No. It closed on Aug 19, 2011 without a recall.
Which vehicles does DP11001 cover?
NHTSA opened it on 1 model year: 2008 Toyota Corolla. That is the scope of the inquiry, not a list of affected vehicles; a recall, if one follows, defines its own population by VIN.