Date: Nov. 27, 2009
Victim: Colleen Trousdale
Location: Auburn, N.Y.
Model: 2010 Toyota Camry
Details: On the day after Thanksgiving, Colleen Trousdale and her 10-year-old granddaughter went out on a Black Friday shopping spree.
They were driving through a busy intersection in downtown Auburn, N.Y., their car loaded with presents, when a 2010 Camry ran a red light and slammed into the driver's side of Trousdale's Ford Taurus, said Auburn Police Lt. Shawn Butler.
Trousdale's upper body was crushed and she was pronounced dead at Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse. She was 56. Her granddaughter survived with minor injuries.
Police questioned the Camry's driver, 56-year-old Barbara Kraushaar, as she was being treated by paramedics. The woman had run through three red lights and was driving 60 mph before the crash, witnesses estimated. "The car had a mind of its own," she said, according to Butler.
Doctors would later conclude that Kraushaar had suffered a stroke, Butler said. In an interview about a month after the crash, Kraushaar told police that she applied her brakes but could not stop the car, Butler said.
Police have not determined whether the stroke or mechanical failure, or both, caused the accident, Butler said.
Concerned about reports of sudden acceleration problems with the Camry, police invited the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to investigate.
The agency removed the "black box" that holds data about the vehicle's speed and asked Toyota officials to download it. The company reported that it was not capable of retrieving data from black boxes in 2010 Camrys, Butler said.
The information in that black box, Butler said, "is the last piece of the puzzle."
-- Stuart Pfeifer, Carol J. Williams and Robert Faturechi
Victim: Colleen Trousdale
Location: Auburn, N.Y.
Model: 2010 Toyota Camry
Details: On the day after Thanksgiving, Colleen Trousdale and her 10-year-old granddaughter went out on a Black Friday shopping spree.
They were driving through a busy intersection in downtown Auburn, N.Y., their car loaded with presents, when a 2010 Camry ran a red light and slammed into the driver's side of Trousdale's Ford Taurus, said Auburn Police Lt. Shawn Butler.
Trousdale's upper body was crushed and she was pronounced dead at Upstate University Hospital in Syracuse. She was 56. Her granddaughter survived with minor injuries.
Police questioned the Camry's driver, 56-year-old Barbara Kraushaar, as she was being treated by paramedics. The woman had run through three red lights and was driving 60 mph before the crash, witnesses estimated. "The car had a mind of its own," she said, according to Butler.
Doctors would later conclude that Kraushaar had suffered a stroke, Butler said. In an interview about a month after the crash, Kraushaar told police that she applied her brakes but could not stop the car, Butler said.
Police have not determined whether the stroke or mechanical failure, or both, caused the accident, Butler said.
Concerned about reports of sudden acceleration problems with the Camry, police invited the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to investigate.
The agency removed the "black box" that holds data about the vehicle's speed and asked Toyota officials to download it. The company reported that it was not capable of retrieving data from black boxes in 2010 Camrys, Butler said.
The information in that black box, Butler said, "is the last piece of the puzzle."
-- Stuart Pfeifer, Carol J. Williams and Robert Faturechi