In a move that will only add fuel to the fire, a top US Toyota executive yesterday testified that the automaker has not ruled out electronics as a source of the sudden acceleration problems plaguing the company’s vehicles.

Sudden acceleration “has many, many causes,” including transmission software problems, faulty cruise control and even engine revs caused by engaging the air conditioner, he said, according to the LA Times today.

It is the first time Toyota has acknowledged publicly that the cause of sudden acceleration in certain models might be related to something other than the floormats.

To make matters worse, a professor of automotive technology claims to have found a flaw in the electronics system of a Toyota that “would allow abnormalities to occur.” Finding the flaw took about 3.5 hours, he said.

This story, against all odds, continues to get worse for Toyota. The company hired an outside firm to conduct testing on its defective cars; that company claimed the electronics were not at fault. This latest revelation — though hardly a smoking gun — just adds to the controversy that Toyota is hiding something.