Personal Injury Law

Pedal Problems Lead to Personal Injury Lawsuits for Toyota

By Michael

In the latest chapter of the Japanese automaker?s woes, Toyota customers are filing lawsuits against the company with complaints that faulty gas pedals are causing, or could cause, car accidents and injuries if their vehicles suddenly accelerate.

About 6.5 million vehicles worldwide are being voluntarily recalled by the auto maker for either sticking gas pedals or faulty floor mats, and another 1.7 million are marked for recalls to fix both problems, according to a release from Toyota. The recall includes eight vehicle models sold in the United States and Canada, including some of the company’s most popular models like the Corolla, Camry, Tundra and Rav.

The sales stoppage of the above models was announced on Jan. 26 and included the Matrix, Avalon, Highlander and Sequoia models.

The recalls mainly involve vehicles built between 2008 and today, although Camry and Tundra models dating back to 2007 could be affected. Avalon models built between 2005 and now also were listed by Toyota for recall.

The two main issues in the vehicles involve accelerator pedals that stick when stepped on and floor mats that can jam the pedals toward the vehicle?s floor. The pedals were made by the CTS Corp. supplier, according to Reuters.

Since November, 10 personal injury lawsuits have been filed in the United States and Canada requesting class action status for the claims. Four lawsuits included in the 10 were filed this past week.

Albert and Sylvia Pena are one of the four new four cases. The Penas told Reuters that their 2008 Toyota Avalon sped up suddenly on Jan. 14, causing them to hit a stop sign. The Penas said the same vehicle had abruptly accelerated before.

Missouri attorney Gary Robb told Reuters that Toyota could lose ?billions? in liability due to the large number of vehicles included in the recall and claims of serious injury and death.

While no confirmed injuries have found to be the result of stuck gas pedals on recalled Toyota models, the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration found that five people died because of pedals getting caught on floor mats, according to Reuters.

On Feb. 1, Toyota began fixing pedals in recalled vehicles, according to a news release on Toyota.com.

According to the release, Toyota?s engineers have ?developed and rigorously tested a solution that involves reinforcing the pedal assembly in a manner that eliminates the excess friction that has caused the pedals to stick in rare instances.?

Full post as published by The Injury Blog on February 04, 2010 (boomark / email).