by brettb on August 3, 2010
As reported by the Washington Post, attorneys leading the class-action lawsuit against Toyota Motors Toyota was aware of the potential for the sudden acceleration issues with some of the company’s vehicles as early as 2003.
Toyota Headquarters in California
And the attorneys involved in the class action against Toyota have indicated that they have documentation to support this claim.
According to a report, a technician for Toyota discovered the problem and wrote the issue was an “extremely dangerous problem,” stating “we are also much afraid of frequency of this problem in near future.”
If this report and the attorneys’ allegations turn out to be accurate Toyota face an additional PR nightmare as well as added liability for this problem.
Toyota has thus far recalled millions of vehicles this year alone for unintended acceleration. And this sudden or unintentional acceleration has caused serious injuries and the deaths of numerous Toyota consumers.
by brettb on June 30, 2010
You may recall Toyota’s recall and product liability nightmare surrounding the company’s sudden acceleration problems that were dominating the news cycle not long ago. These issues may have slipped off the front page, but there are plenty of investigators as well personal injury attorneys who are still looking for answers from Toyota.
Electronic Throttel Control System - credit and source: Los Angeles Times
And some of these folks – lawmakers on Capital Hill, for instance – are now seeking documents from Toyota regarding its brake override system.
According to Bloomberg News, House Energy and Commerce Chairman Henry Waxman and Rep. Bart Stupak (D) have written to Toyota demanding that the automaker produce information regarding the brake override technology used in certain older models. The lawmakers also want information regarding the consulting firm Exponent Inc. and the work it has performed for Toyota regarding unintended acceleration.
In their letter to Toyota, Congressman Waxman stated, regarding Toyota’s use of this override technology, “Neither you nor Toyota’s electronics experts informed the committee that some older model vehicles may already have a brake override function.”
The point, is that on the issue of the applicability of a brake override system, Toyota has told Congress that the technology may not be applicable to older vehicles. But now Congress finds out that Toyota has actually been using this technology in older vehicles, which just doesn’t look so good for Toyota.
But the real issue is whether or not the sudden acceleration problems have resulted from an electronic throttle defect – a computer glitch. Toyota has consistently denied this allegation.
However, if brake override systems are in older vehicles, and those systems activate when the throttle system registers a software glitch. Then all you would have to do is look at the data, assuming Toyota has it, regarding how often those systems have registered such a problem and you would be a long way into figuring out if the sudden acceleration problems are electronic or mechanical in nature.
And if Toyota didn’t want Congress looking into those older vehicles that utilize a brake override system or the data gained from those systems, for whatever reason, well you might see how they would just forget to mention it.
This is, of course, the same company that has been accused by their former attorney of hiding damaging evidence in personal injury and product liability lawsuits.
