Toyota Recalls & Lawsuits
Three separate but related recalls of automobiles by Toyota Motor Corporation occurred at the end of 2009 and start of 2010. Toyota initiated the recalls, the first two with the assistance of the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), after reports that several vehicles experienced unintended acceleration. The first recall, on November 2, 2009, was to correct a possible incursion of an incorrect or out-of-place front driver's side floor mat into the foot pedal well, which can cause pedal entrapment. The second recall, on January 21, 2010, was begun after some crashes were shown not to have been caused by floor mat incursion. This latter defect was identified as a possible mechanical sticking of the accelerator pedal causing unintended acceleration, referred to as Sticking Accelerator Pedal by Toyota. The original action was initiated by Toyota in their Defect Information Report, dated October 5, 2009, amended January 27, 2010. Following the floor mat and accelerator pedal recalls, Toyota also issued a separate recall for hybrid anti-lock brake software in February 2010.
Unintended acceleration is the unintended, unexpected, uncontrolled acceleration of a vehicle from a stationary position, low initial speed or at cruising speed, often accompanied by an apparent loss of braking effectiveness. Unintended accleration of Toyota vehicle has been blamed for numerous injuries and deaths and has resulted in hundreds of lawsuits nationwide.
Consumers in the U.S. and Canada have filed numerous class action lawsuits blaming the sudden acceleration problem on the electronic throttle control system (ETC) and alleging Toyota's negligence. As of February 26, 2010, there were at least 72 lawsuits pending in U.S. federal courts against Toyota or its subsidiaries as a result of the 2009-10 recalls. Plaintiffs are seeking damages for personal injury or wrongful death resulting from accidents in the defective Toyota vehicles (in other words, product liability), loss of resale value, or a drop in the value of shares held by Toyota shareholders. On April 9, 2010, the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation ordered consolidation of all federal actions into the Central District of California before Judge James V. Selna for all pretrial motions and discovery.
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Friday, 06 May 2011 02:56 | Written by Toyota Recall Lawyer |
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Last Updated (Friday, 06 May 2011 03:21)
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Just when we thought the recalls were ending, Toyota announced another recall, this one affecting a possible 50,939 Tundras. Although this recall was not as extensive as the 15 other major Toyota recalls over the past 12 months, it still brings into question the reliability of the motor company and their once highly-esteemed products.|
Tuesday, 26 April 2011 17:14 | Written by Toyota Recall Lawyer |
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Last Updated (Friday, 06 May 2011 03:20)
Tuesday, 08 March 2011 02:12 | Written by Toyota Recall Lawyer |
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These vehicles, according to the report filed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, fail to comply with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard No. 138, "Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS)." According to NHTSA, "the tire pressure monitoring systems [on these vehicles] were not re-calibrated correctly and therefore do not start illuminating the low tire pressure warning..." The inability of these vehicles to notify drivers when the tire pressure is low could lead to tire blowouts, accidents, and injuries. Last Updated (Tuesday, 08 March 2011 18:41)
Tuesday, 01 March 2011 20:13 | Written by Toyota Recall Lawyer |
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Last Updated (Tuesday, 01 March 2011 21:33)
Thursday, 24 February 2011 23:04 | Written by Toyota Recall Lawyer |
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Right when Toyota thought its floor-mat crises were over, new complaints of "unintended acceleration" due to "floor-mat entrapment" forced the automobile manufacturer to recall another 2.2 million vehicles. This latest recall, including the previous 5.5 million vehicles recalled due to "unintended acceleration," puts the tally up to 7.7 million Toyota vehicles recalled in the past two years due to improperly manufactured floor-mats. Last Updated (Tuesday, 01 March 2011 20:09)
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Surprise, Surprise. Toyota has recently issued another recall (in addition to the almost 20 recalls it has issued since 2009). This time, over 300,000 Highlander, Highlander Hybrid, and Rav4 vehicles were recalled due to possible airbag system malfunctions.
On Friday Toyota issued another recall - this time affecting 22,000 certain model year 2008-2011 Toyota FJ Cruisers, Land Cruisers, Sequoias, Tacomas, and Tundras.
Ray LaHood, Transportation Department Secretary, recently announced that a 10 month study of Toyota vehicles, conducted primarily by NASA, found no software code errors or electrical defects which could account for the thousands of reported "unintended acceleration" cases that have plagued Toyota for the past decade. According the LaHood, the study concluded that the only viable factors that could account for Toyota's woes were either faulty floor-mats that jammed gas pedals or the gas pedals themselves, which could have become stuck.
