Toyota Motor Co. has recalled millions of cars worldwide due to concerns that the accelerator pedals could become stuck. (Associated Press)

ABC News has admitted it used visuals in a report on acceleration problems with Toyota vehicles that didn't demonstrate what was actually happening.

The network's handling of a Feb. 22 World News story about potential problems with computer systems in Toyotas has raised journalistic ethical questions and intensified bitter feelings the besieged automaker already had toward ABC.

The automaker has had to recall many of its cars because of problems associated with sticky gas pedals.

ABC has now admitted to a misjudgment and swapped out the brief dashboard video in its report, which continues to be available online.

'Do they honestly think that a company like Toyota, with all the resources that it has, would not be looking at these things?'—Journalism professor Charlotte Grimes

Its story illustrated a report by David Gilbert, a Southern Illinois University professor who suggested that a design flaw in Toyotas might leave a short-circuit that could cause sudden acceleration undetected by the car's computer system.

Correspondent Brian Ross's report showed him driving a Toyota with Gilbert that was rigged to quickly accelerate. Even though he knew it was coming, Ross said the incident left him shaken, and he had a hard time getting the car to come to a stop.

Tachometer shot needed to be steady

Briefly during the drive, ABC cut to a picture of a tachometer with the needle zooming forward. The impression was that the tachometer was documenting the ride Ross was taking. Instead, that picture was taken from a separate instance where a short-circuit was induced in a parked car.

ABC said that editing was done because it was impossible to get a good shot of the tachometer while the car was moving because the camera was shaking. The camera shot was steady when it was taken in a parked car.

"The tachometer showed the same thing every time," said ABC News spokeswoman Emily Lenzner.

Toyota spokesman John Hanson disputes that, saying tachometers react much more dramatically when short-circuits happen in a parked car than a car that is moving. Tachometers measure engine speed.

It all points to problems that are created when visual journalists try to alter reality in order to get a better picture.

"Any time you give the audience any reason to doubt the honesty of the piece, that's a serious problem," said Charlotte Grimes, a Syracuse University journalism professor who specializes in ethical issues.

"Do they honestly think that a company like Toyota, with all the resources that it has, would not be looking at these things?" Grimes asked.

'Misjudgement' in editing: ABC

Toyota recognized the differences right away: the shot showed the car's speedometer was at zero, the parking brake was on and no one was using the seat belts — while Ross wore one on the test drive, Hanson said.

Online discussion of the differences began almost immediately, and the website Gawker.com wrote about it last week.

ABC edited the online version of its story shortly after that story appeared and wrote a note on its website explaining why.

"This was a misjudgment made in the editing room," Lenzner said. "They should have left the shaky shot in. But I want to make clear that the two-second shot that was used did not change the outcome of the report in any way."

Hanson said he wished Toyota could have been invited to see the simulation conducted by ABC.

The Associated Press