In September 2011, three NASA investigators claimed that they identified tin whiskers on the accelerator position sensors of sampled Toyota Camry models that could contribute to the "stuck accelerator" crashes affecting certain Toyota models during 2005–2010. This contradicted an earlier 10-month joint investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and a large group of other NASA researchers that found no electronic defects.
In 2012, NHTSA maintained: "We do not believe that tin whiskers are a plausible explanation for these incidents...[the likely cause was] pedal misapplication."
Toyota also maintains that tin whiskers were not the cause of any stuck accelerator issues: "In the words of U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood, 'The verdict is in. There is no electronic-based cause for unintended high-speed acceleration in Toyotas. Period. According to a Toyota press release, "no data indicates that tin whiskers are more prone to occur in Toyota vehicles than any other vehicle in the marketplace." Toyota also states that "their systems are designed to reduce the risk that tin whiskers will form in the first place."