A civil action, filed in a District of Columbia court room, has the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) being sued over the release of Toyota Unintended Acceleration investigation documents. The lawsuit was filed by Safety Research & Strategies (SRS), a Massachusetts safety research firm that advocates for consumers on safety matters. The firm says that the NHTSA violated the freedom of information act by withholding records involving certain unintended acceleration incidents. They say that the agencies secrecy prevented independent parties from carrying out an analysis of their own, and has asked that the court to force the release of documents that are relevant to the safety recall. The lawsuit follows a recent Department of Transportation Inspector General report criticizing NHTSA for its lack of transparency and documentation in its investigations and comes on the heels of disclosure that NHTSA hid months of investigation into Chevy Volt fires.