Auburn (WSYR-TV) - It's been six months since a recalled Toyota was involved in a deadly car accident in Auburn. Finally, Wednesday, investigators have results from the car's event data recorder. The Auburn Police Department says the black box reveals evidence that the accident was not caused by vehicle malfunction. Police say Barbara Kraushaar lost control of her car because of a medical condition, causing a three car accident at the intersection of North Street and Arterial. That accident killed Colleen Trousdale, a driver in another car. "It's been a long road. and we did get something positive, where we could give some kind of answer," said Lt. Shawn Butler of the Auburn Police Department. It may not be the answer many people were looking for, however. Witnesses told police they saw Kraushaar's car speeding down North Street and passing though several red lights. Kraushaar told police she was pressing the car's break, but the black box tells a different story. "What the data showed us is that the breaks during the last five seconds leading up to the crash were not applied at all," Lt. Butler sad. Data also shows it was the gas pedal that was pressed and released several times. "The whole time she was coming northbound, we believe she was suffering from this medical condition," Butler said. She may have believed she was pressing the break pedal when, in fact, she was flooding the gas. Obtaining the data wasn't easy. First, Toyota didn't have the technology to read the car's black box. Once it was developed, the National Transportation Safety Administration didn't want to release the information. "They themselves do not assist law enforcement in determining causation," Butler said. "That's what we were looking for." It wasn't until last week that Lt. Butler got the go-ahead to retrieve data he needed - a process that only took one hour.
Auburn Police obtain 'black box' info from from Black Friday crash
June 3
Auburn (WSYR-TV) - The Auburn Police have finally enlisted the help of Toyota in their investigation of a fatal accident involving a recalled car.
In March, police determined that their investigation of deadly accident that occurred in November could not move forward without the help of the automobile manufacturer. The Toyota representative arrived yesterday and helped downloaded information from the car's "black box," or event data recorder (EDR), which was recovered from the vehicle. The information was then turned over to the police.
In November,an accident at the intersection of North Street and west-bound Arterial in Auburn claimed the life of a Port Byron woman and injured her 10-year old granddaughter.
Police say a 2010 Camry was traveling north-bound on North Street when she failed to stop at a red light. She struck a 2006 Ford Taurus being driven by Colleen Trousdale, 56 of Port Byron. Trousdale’s vehicle then struck a third vehicle, a 2002 Dodge pick-up truck that was sitting at the red light facing southbound on North Street.
At the time of the accident, the police were looking into whether or not it was the result of a vehicle malfunction.
The police were able to gain access to the Toyota representative with the help of Congressman Michael Arcuri's office.
Police hope black box will provide clues to fatal crash
March 8
Auburn (WSYR-TV) - Police in Auburn say they can't go any further into their investigation into a deadly crash involving a recalled Toyota until they can get to the information inside the car. Police are trying to get information from the so-called 'black box' located inside of the Toyota Camry, but investigators say when they asked Toyota in February to pull the data from the box, they said they didn't have the equipment. Lt. Shawn Butler, with the Auburn Police Department said the witness' statement said "it appeared the car had a mind of its own." Butler said it was those words that prompted him and his department to investigate whether there was some malfunction behind a deadly car crash involving a recalled Toyota. His department believes the answer lies inside the black box which was taken from the car. "I'm not putting all my eggs in one basket that this is going to give us a definitive answer but it is the last key to the puzzle there may be some useful information on that," said Butler. The driver of the car told police she had problems while driving. The driver ran two red lights, and witnesses said she was traveling at about 45 miles per hour on one of the busiest intersections in the city. She also told police she couldn't stop.
The car's event data recorder would have tracked what she was doing when that happened. "It can give us some indication of speed accelerator positioning, was she attempting to apply the brakes," said Butler. Police say when they asked Toyota in February to pull the data from the box, they told him they didn't have the equipment. "The reason that was given by the Toyota representative was that Toyota themselves were not currently equipped with the cabling and software to access the data on that box." The open case has left police and family members still wondering. "I want to give them some sort of closure," said Butler. The auburn police department says they plan on sending the data box to Toyota in April. That's when the company told them they should have the proper equipment to read the box. Calls made out to Toyota were not returned.
NHTSA investigating Black Friday crash in Auburn
Decembr 8, 2009
Auburn (WSYR-TV) - Auburn Police say investigators from the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration are in Auburn today investigating whether a vehicle defect could've caused a deadly crash on November 27.
Police say a 2010 Camry driven by Barbara Kraushaar, 55 from Auburn, was traveling north-bound on North Street when the driver failed to stop at a red light. She struck a 2006 Ford Taurus being driven by Colleen Trousdale, 56 of Port Byron. Trousdale’s vehicle then struck a third vehicle, a 2002 Dodge pick-up.
Trousdale later died from injuries sustained in the accident.
At the time of the accident police said they were looking into either a vehicle malfunction or a medical condition as the cause of the accident.
The 2010 Toyota Camry was one of several Toyota vehicles involved in a large recall in September. Problems with a removable floor mat in about 3.8 million Toyota vehicles could interfere with the vehicle's accelerator and lead to a crash, according to the company.
Auburn Police investigating fatal crash
Auburn (WSYR-TV) - Auburn Police are investigating a fatal accident at the intersection of North Street and west-bound Arterial, that killed a Port Byron woman and injured her 10-year old granddaughter. Police say a 2010 Camry was traveling north-bound on North Street when she failed to stop at a red light. She struck a 2006 Ford Taurus being driven by Colleen Trousdale, 56 of Port Byron. Trousdale’s vehicle then struck a third vehicle, a 2002 Dodge pick-up truck that was sitting at the red light facing southbound on North Street. Trousdale was transported to Auburn Memorial Hospital for stabilization and then transferred to University Hospital in Syracuse where she died from injuries sustained in the accident. Trousdale’s 10-year old granddaughter was also transported to University Hospital for minor facial injuries that are not considered life-threatening. The driver of the Camry was also transported to University Hospital where she is in stable condition. The driver of the pick-up truck, a resident of Cicero, was transported to Auburn Memorial Hospital and released with minor injuries. Auburn Police and the Cayuga County Sheriff’s Office are cooperating on this ongoing investigation. Anyone with additional information concerning this accident is encouraged to contact the Auburn Police Department at 315-253-3231 or lead investigator Det. Patrick Shea at 315-255-4703.
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