This morning Toyota is announcing a recall of more than 2 million vehicles in the United States, saying they may pose a danger of the accelerator becoming entrapped in the floor mat. If this story sounds familiar, it should. The latest recall is an expansion of the company's earlier recall for this same problem, which it announced in 2009. This latest recall increases the total number of vehicles recalled by Toyota since 2009 to more than 14 million worldwide.
On Feb. 8, the U.S. Department of Transportation released results of a 10-month study on the suspected cause of Sudden Unintended Acceleration that affected thousands of Toyota vehicles and prompted the recall of more than 8 million various makes and models beginning in late 2009. But lawyers and safety groups investigating claims of accidents, injuries and deaths caused by SUA say the study is incomplete and in no way exonerates Toyota or involvement of its electronic throttle system. The NASA study will not stand up when more exhaustive research is finalized, according to a number of safety groups.
The U.S. Transportation Department announced Monday night, Dec. 20, that Toyota will pay an additional $32 million in penalties related to its recent automobile recalls. The fines are the result of two recent federal investigations into how Toyota handled the recent recalls, which involved millions of vehicles in the United States and abroad, for issues of sudden unintended acceleration and brake defects. The latest fines are the steepest allowed by law, and are in addition to a $16.375 million fine Toyota paid in April.
Toyota has announced another recall, this time involving more than 1.5 million vehicles worldwide, for problems with brake fluid and fuel pumps. The recall will affect 740,000 cars in the United States. Models affected by the recall in the U.S. include the 2005 and 2006 Avalon, 2004 through 2006 non-hybrid Highlander and Lexus RX330, and 2006 Lexus GS300, IS250 and IS350 vehicles.
As plaintiffs' lawyers prepare to file their consolidated class action on behalf of Toyota consumers, they face an obstacle that has prevented similar claims from advancing in the past: Class members didn't actually suffer physical injuries. The class members assert that they suffered economic injuries because their vehicles declined in value following recalls tied to sudden acceleration problems. Courts have rejected similar argument in class actions brought under products liability laws, according to plaintiffs' lawyers who spoke during a March conference on the Toyota litigation.
United States District Judge James V. Selna today appointed W. Daniel "Dee" Miles, III, head of the Consumer Fraud section for Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis and Miles, P.C., to the Liaison Committee for personal injury/wrongful death cases in litigation against Toyota. April 9, 2010, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multi-District Litigation selected the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California to hear litigation surrounding Toyota sudden unintended acceleration (SUA). Lawsuits include both individual personal injury claims and consumer class actions filed on behalf of Toyota owners who claim the value of their vehicles has been negatively affected by Toyota's SUA problems.
Toyota Motor Corp.'s legal problems aren't limited to the federal multidistrict litigation over unintended acceleration of its vehicles. Scores of lawsuits are working their way through state courts across the nation, and some of those cases could pave the road for the MDL.
The first hearing in the MDL won't take place until later this month, but some lawyers with cases pending in various state courts already have begun deposing Toyota executives.
Toyota announced it will recall about 9,400 model-year 2010 Lexus GX 460s to reprogram the Vehicle Stability Control (VSC), which is typically referred to outside of Toyota as electronic stability control (ECS). The decision to recall the sport utility vehicles follows a global sales and production suspension announced last week, triggered by a Consumer Reports "don't buy" warning.
Toyota announced today that it will suspend production of its Lexus GX 460 sport utility vehicle following a Consumer Reports test that found the vehicles are too unstable and prone to rollover in certain conditions. The announcement comes after the automaker announced yesterday that it would suspend GX 460 sales in the U.S.
