Posts tagged "Toyota"

The continued troubles faced by Toyota are costing sleep for at least two groups of California professionals. Toyota dealership salesmen and San Diego Car Accident Attorneys are both working around the clock to assist a public suddenly wary of their vehicles. And if things continue in the direction they've been going, neither group should expect a break anytime soon.

On Tuesday, Toyota president Akio Toyoda again apologized as he announced the recall of nearly half a million 2010 hybrid models, including the Toyota Prius. The recall comes amidst a growing number of reports citing failures in the Prius breaking system, usually after the car has gone over a bump.

A USA Today article reports that the glitch has been the cause of several car accidents, but no fatalities ... yet.

San Diego personal injury attorneys are seeing a host of questions from concerned Toyota owners in light of the comments made by U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood earlier this week.  LaHood advised, in testimony before the House Appropriations subcommittee this week, that owners of the recalled models of Toyota's cars should stop driving them. 

Indeed, his sentiment was echoed by personal injury attorneys.  In the UK, a leading lawyer urged owners of the recalled vehicles to stay off the road, or face possible legal liability if the product defect caused an accident. 

The recall, which was announced earlier this year, took 5.6 million vehicles off the road in the United States alone.  Toyota has been having issues with the brake systems and issued a recall last year, after a San Diego car accident resulted in the death of five people.   

You didn't really think the Toyota mess was over, did you?  Just when Toyota thought it had taken sufficient action to deal with their potential products liability problem, a new car started having brake issues. This time, it's the fuel efficient and nouveau-Hollywood chic Prius.

The Prius somehow escaped the recall last week.

The eco-friendly compact hybrid has been generating consumer complaints in Japan, including one case of a car accident last July, where a Prius crashed head-on into another car at an intersection. 

Another major auto maker has announced a product recall, in a move to protect consumers from personal injury and to shield the auto maker from potential personal injury law suits.

Honda Motor Co. (HMC) announced on Friday that it, too, would be recalling a total of 646,000 automobiles worldwide.

Honda's recall, however, has to do with the window switches that might overheat if exposed to liquid, which in turn could cause smoke or even catch fire. The fire hazard came to light after a fatal accident in South Africa last year, where a child was killed after the car caught on fire.

Earlier this week, Toyota announced a recall of 2.3 million vehicles, its second major recall in months. Toyota's earlier recall was prompted by a San Diego fatal accident last year.

Let the lawsuits begin in the sticky-pedal cases against Toyota. 

A southern California personal injury attorney has filed a class action suit against the automaker, in addition to the pending lawsuit he already had against Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc.  There is also a pending suit against Toyota filed by a Milwaukee law firm.   

In the California complaint, the personal injury lawyer alleges violations of the Consumer Legal Remedies Acts, as well as Unfair Competition Law, both under California law.  The suit also alleges breach of implied warranty, negligence and false advertising.

The sticky-pedal situation is not new to San Diego residents nor to San Diego personal injury attorneys.  There have been several reported cases of accelerator pedals sticking, including one fatal accident near San Diego.  Last week, there was a major recall due to this very problem, the second major recall by the auto-maker within the span of a few months.

One huge problem for Toyota is that the lawsuits allege a defect in design, specifically in the vehicles sold after 2001, where Toyota began installing electronic throttle systems.  These systems allegedly lack a fail-safe measure that triggers when the brake is applied, which in turn prevents the driver from overriding the throttle to slow the car, or to stop it. 

Toyota is taking the potential of product liability very seriously. 

So seriously, in fact, that the auto manufacturer has halted the sales on eight of its vehicle models in the United States to fix the sticky accelerator pedals. This suspension comes in the wake of two major vehicle recalls, which were prompted by a fatal car accident in the San Diego area last year.

According to Toyota, production is being suspended on the 2009-2010 RAV4, the 2009-2010 Corolla, the 2009-2010 Matrix, the 2005-2010 Avalon, the 2007-2010 Camry, the 2010 Highlander, the 2007-2010 Tundra and the 2008-2010 Sequoia.

The move is an aggressive one for the auto-maker, but in light of the potential of grave injuries, fatal accidents and serious legal issues, it may be a wise move on the part of the car company.  Last year, Toyota recalled 4.2 million automobiles due to problems involving the gas pedals, which were becoming stuck under oversized floor mats.  This problem was reported in San Diego, where it was the cause of an accident and had been reported by several other customers at a San Diego area dealership.  Last week, Toyota recalled 2.3 million more vehicles, after issues were reported with accelerator pedals sticking, regardless of the floor mats.  

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.