Request for Auto Insurance records by Congress
Toyota recalled more than eight million cars which had been manufactured by them due to presence of some faulty parts in them. This was done after a complaint had been registered by State Farm at the National Highway Traffic Safety administration in 2007. They felt that there was something faulty in the vehicles being manufactured by Toyota. The auto insurance company also stayed abreast of all the developments in the case through the National Highway Traffic Safety administration. State Farm had noticed that a large number of cars manufactured by Toyota were meeting with accidents and felt something was fishy about the cars. No other insurance company was able to detect anything unusual. State Farm got into an investigation with many other insurance companies in order to find out if the accident was caused by the negligence of the driver or whether there was any major fault present in the vehicle parts.
The faith of customers in cars manufactured by Toyota was completely shaken after this huge recall of vehicles had taken place. The entire customer base started decreasing drastically. Toyota had the reputation of creating some of the most reliable vehicles which could be driven on the road and this recall had taken the automobile industry by storm. A lot of auto magazines wrote editorials in favor of Toyota stating that these were issues being faced in almost any industry and many of them praised Toyota for giving all their customers a free replacement car.
There have been many other instances in the past when auto insurance companies have helped in finding out manufacturing defects in vehicles being manufactured by various automobile companies. State Farm had previously issued a complaint to the National Highway Traffic Safety administration regarding the Ford Explorer being manufactured by Ford Motors. The Bridgestone tires which were being used in order to run the Ford Explorer had some kind of manufacturing defect in them and this was taken care of by the company once the defect had been brought to light by State Farm.
These instances of the past have helped the Congress to understand the important role which is being played by insurance companies in detecting defective as well as fraudulent activities. Hence they have request for their help once again. Two of the Congress leaders have asked some of the leading insurance companies in the United States to provide them with all the data and statistics pertaining to accidents where Toyota vehicles have been involved. Allstate, Farmers, GEICO, Progressive and State Farm are some of the auto insurance companies which have been approached by the Congress. Chairman Henry A Waxman and Subcommittee Chairman Bart Stupak of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce have sent letters to the Chief Executive Officers of all these companies seeking their co-operation in order to sort out this matter. They have been asked to submit all the detailed information available regarding any accidents taking place with Toyota vehicles. Any correspondence between the insurance companies and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration regarding defects in Toyota vehicles should also be made available.