It didn’t come to me as a surprise when Toyota Motor Corporation (NYSE:TM) made public the findings of the investigations in the ongoing case of unintended acceleration in a Prius. Quite predictably, the company came with the explanation that the vehicle didn’t accelerate under its examination the way it was accused of by the owner. This time, the company has National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) by its side as a credible agency backing its claims.

A California based resident James Sikes alleged that the hybrid vehicle experienced runaway acceleration early last week. Sikes claimed that the accelerator pedal stuck to the floor and the speed of the vehicle climbed to over 90 miles per hour. Under the tests performed by Toyota along with NHTSA, the Prius failed to replicate any of the problems reported by the owner.

“These findings certainly raise new questions surrounding the veracity of the sequence of events that has been reported by Mr. Sikes. In the course of this investigation, we have seen what can happen when people take liberty with facts and mischaracterize information”, said Kurt Bardella, a spokesman for Representative Darrell Issa of California, the ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Now comes the interesting part. Jalopnik dug up some vitals about Sikes and it looks to be a clear case of a smart mind trying to take advantage of the recall situation. The claimant in question is currently US$700,000 in debt after declaring bankruptcy two years ago. The vehicle owned by Sikes is actually leased, and the lease is up in a couple of months. Sikes has request Toyota for a replacement vehicle instead of monetary compensation which further raises suspicion.

Nevertheless, I fail to understand how Toyota is still trading at US$79 apiece. The stock has not only shown tremendous resilience but has actually improved close to 6 percent since the starting of this month. True, die hard Toyota followers aren’t going to change their vehicles just because of the recall and safety concerns (although they are significantly serious in nature), but Toyota has already put-off a chunk of vehicle buyers by the way it has handled the issue. It is quite possible for the stock to take another beating and tank further as the episode unfolds.