• 25
  • January
    2010

In its second major recall within a span of months, Toyota announced on Thursday that it planned to recall 2.3 million vehicles in the United States due to a defect in the product, namely, faulty accelerator pedals. This recall comes a few months after Toyota recalled 4.2 million vehicles, due to gas pedals sticking under floor mats. The sticky gas pedals problem allegedly led to a fatal accident last year. There had also allegedly been several complaints made to a San Diego area car dealership regarding the floor-mats problem.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is a federal body charged with governing vehicle safety standards and when a motor-vehicle product has a safety issue or fails to meet safety guidelines, that product must be recalled.

Product recalls of such proportion are also a blanket solution for large companies to minimize the risk of products liability law suits for personal injury.  In the case of auto manufacturers such as Toyota, the likely cause of any such suit would stem from a car accident and in the case of fatal accidents, could include potential wrongful death actions. 

Products liability suits generally stem from the notion of defect in the product, making the product dangerous for use.  There are several basis under which a personal injury attorney may bring a suit for products liability but in this particular situation, a defect in the design of the product could cause severe legal problems for Toyota, as could defects in manufacturing the product. 

Regardless of which potential causes of action the personal injury attorney for the aggrieved party may use, the end result remains the same- that an injured party can generally sue the auto manufacturer if the injury was caused by a defect in the product.  

And in order to avoid any such suits, Toyota did the wise thing by recalling its potentially dangerous product. Will this avoid all potential lawsuits stemming from injuries related to these recalled automobiles?  

Maybe not. 

But in protecting itself and its consumers, Toyota is making the smart decision.