U.S. safety regulators, responding to an inquiry by Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa, stood by their original assessment that sticky pedals caused Toyota Motor Corp. cars to accelerate unintentionally and struck down the possibility that an electrical problem was behind it. In a letter to Grassley, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Thursday that it had explored "in detail" the effects of so-called tin whiskers -- a crystalline growth on a metallic surface that could cause electrical interference with the pedal -- and found no evidence that it was a contributor to the unintended acceleration incidents.
NHTSA maintains the likely cause was "pedal misapplication."
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