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Something like that, the strength could be high enough that it could cause a ig seg nal. >> reporter: and you think that powerlines could be one of the culprits here as much as cell phone and blackberrys. >> yes, depending on the strength. >> reporter: again, this is not unique to the toyota or camry, because many makes and models are laid out like this the wirs unshielded and another expert say that may be an issue, the fact that the wires are not shielded could make them more susceptible to the interference and if they were shielded, could that cut down on it? >> absolutely. it is a very big...

Electromagnetic interference could cause the electronic throttle control system to malfunction. those systems control the car's function, and it could go beyond the sticking pedals in the toyota. so we wanted to know what electromagnetic interference is and how it works so we went to the university of maryland and talked to a prominent professor there who has written books on the subject, and here is what we found. >> reporter: we are at the university of maryland's engineering department to find out if the electromagnetic interference is causing the problem in the toyota vehicles and causing ...

Among the models of camrys being looked at for the sudden acceleration problems, but it has a similar layout. those camrys came along a couple of years later, but can it serve as a basic illustrator of the components under the hood or any modern vehicle this day to be susceptible to electromagnetic interference. dr. pecht, are we talking about the wires here? >> yes, there is a control unit to control the engine, but all of the wires hook up to the control unit, and the control unit has wires that go back to the engine to control the pespe. >> and that is inside of the passenger compartment? >...

Transportation secretary ray lahood says they will hold toyota's feet to the fire as they skramible to replace sticking gas pedals on millions of vehicles, and they play consumer advocate for toyota owners. >> if you own one of these cars, if you are in doubt, take it to the dealer and have them fix it if it is one of the ones that needs to be fixed or at least have them look at it. >> reporter: but lahoud's department is going further, and an official there telling cnn that a safety arm is wondering if electromagnetic interference is causing the throttle acceleration systems to break down. >>...

Again, that's what the secretary said that the transportation department is investigating. it's important to point out that the division of that department that's investigating this, the national highway transportation safety administration, has not seen any evidence to support the idea that there may be electromagnetic interference, but they have to look at it and so that's one of the things they're looking at. but this kind of signifies, don, that washington is jumping further and further into this situation. the secretary yesterday issued very, very strong language essentially accusing toyo...