Toyota Sudden-Acceleration Death Toll Increases To Possible 89 People

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Posted on 26th May 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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The governent has increased its estimate of how many deaths may have been caused by the sudden acceleration of Toyota cars, to 89 from 52 fatalities.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on Monday said that its gotten more than 6,200 complaints regarding the Toyota acceleration issue from 2000 to mid-May.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/05/26/business/26toyota.html

The report now puts the suspected death toll at 89, with injuries to 57 people. Before, just 52 deaths had been considered to be possibly caused by the acceleration issue.

In response to the NHTSA’s announcement, Toyota put out its own statement.

“Toyota sympathizes with the individuals and families involved in any accident involving out vehicles,” the automaker said. “Our vehicles are safe, and and we remain committed to investigating reported incidents of unintended acceleration in our vehicles quickly.”

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-05-25/toyota-sudden-acceleration-may-be-tied-to-89-deaths-update1-.html

Toyota Stalled In Recall of U.S. Vehicles, Documents Say

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Posted on 12th April 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Toyota’s public relations nightmare continued Monday, as stories broke about the car maker delaying its recall of vehicles in the United States, even after the company had knowledge of sudden-acceleration problems that allegedly lead to dozens of deaths.

Various news outlets, including the Associated Press and The New York Times on Page One, cited internal Toyota documents that became public last week.

In one particularly damning comment, one Toyota official in January told his colleagues that he had to break some bad news, namely that some of the company’s car models “have a tendency for mechanical failure in accelerator pedals.” http://www.nytimes.com/2010/04/12/business/12gap.html?hp

The message went on to say, “The time to hide on this one is over. We need to come clean.”

But there was a lag, three days later, before Toyota finally folded to public pressure and recalled millions of vehicle.

Basically, the documents show that Toyota stalled in taking any action to remedy the acceleration problem, and that it even took steps quicker in Europe and Canada than it did in the United States.

Last week the federal transportation authority announced that it was fining Toyota the stiffest penalty allowed, $16.4 million, over the recall related to the sticking accelerators.

Several days after that last week, federal safety officials warned Toyota that they might impose a second penalty against the car maker. That fine would stem from Toyota’s handling of the recall of 2.3 million cars and trucks with accelerator pedals that could get stuck. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-toyota-fine10-2010apr10,0,1294645.story

Federal Toyota Suits Consolidated Before California Judge

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Posted on 10th April 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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 The litigation against Toyota over its sudden-acceleration problem took another step forward Friday, with more than 150 federal suits being consolidated before one federal judge in Santa Ana, Calif. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-toyota-lawsuits10-2010apr10,0,6050180.story

 So even as federal safety officials are investigating and fining Toyota over the acceleration issue and the auto maker’s handling of the matter, the lawsuits against Toyota will proceed before federal Judge James Selna.

 Selna’s Santa Anna, Calif., courtroom will become the center for determining personal damages in the pending suits.  Santa Anna is only about 30 miles from Toyota’s U.S. headquarters.

 On Friday the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation decided to give allow 100 suits that are seeking class action status, along with 50 personal injury cases, to be litigated before one judge, Selna, The Los Angeles Times reported.

 “Centralization will create convenience for the parties and witnesses and will promote the more just and efficient conduct of this litigation,” the chairman of the federal panel, Judge John Heyburn II, wrote in an order Friday.

 But this only applies to federal lawsuits pending against Toyota, which has recalled more than 8 million vehicles due to the sudden acceleration problem. Numerous suits have also been filed in state courts across the nation.

 Last month dozens of attorneys presented arguments about whether the many lawsuits should be consolidated or handled individually.

 Judge Selna’s resume includes presiding over complex corporate, and he’ll his hands full in the dozens of Toyota lawsuits, according to The Wall Street Journal. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304222504575174180229421268.html?mod=WSJ_business_whatsNews

For example, he adjudicated a patent infringement case between Quaalcom and Broadcom, finding that Quaalcom had violated a court order by marketing computer chips that used Broadcom patented technology – without paying the royalties due.

Judge Selna plans to pick a committee of plaintiffs’ attorneys to be lead counsel on the consolidated cases, with more than 100 lawyers jockeying for those spots, The Journal reported.  

Regulators Bring In NASA Scientists For Toyota Probe

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Posted on 31st March 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Pulling out all the stops in their probe, auto-safety regulators will literally turn to help from rocket scientists to study what’s caused the sudden, and deadly, acceleration of Toyota cars. http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20100330/bs_nm/us_toyota;_ylt=Avj2ZyGXDibrcZycWm8RhC9h24cA;_ylu=X3oDMTJ1ajNmY2JtBGFzc2V0A25tLzIwMTAwMzMwL3VzX3RveW90YQRjY29kZQNtb3N0cG9wdWxhcgRjcG9zAzcEcG9zAzcEc2VjA3luX3RvcF9zdG9yaWVzBHNsawNnb3Z0YXNraW5nbmE

NASA space and aeronautics engineers are being called in to help examine Touota’s electronic throttles, to find out if they are the cause of the sudden auto accelerations.

“We are determined to get to the bottom of unintended acceleration,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood told Reuters.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, NHTSA, part of the Transportation Department, is doing an investigation into Toyota’s throttles. As part of that probe, nine NASA scientists who are experts in electronics, electromagnetic interference, software and difficult problem solving will be lending a hand.

The NHTSA investigation is slated to be done by the summer, and then it will be decided whether to go forward with a formal probe.

In Japan Tuesday, Toyota president Akio Toyoda convened a committee with 50 members that will study safety problems.

The Mechanics and Legal Logistics of the Toyota Lawsuits

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Posted on 26th March 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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The litigation stemming from Toyota’s sudden-acceleration debacle continues to move forward, with the auto maker arguing Thursday that the 200 lawsuits stemming from the problem should be consolidated. http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5imJf-xAYjZsiJx5KJN87X2aebzZQD9ELQ9N81

Toyota’s head attorney, Carl Dawson of Georgia, plead the car manufacturer’s case for having the personal injury and wrongful death suits, as well as any potential class action suits, merged.

“All these cases have common issues,” Dawson said. “There will be significant overlap.”

Dawson also argued that the suits should be handled in a California court, since Toyota’s U.S. headquarters is in Los Angeles. He argued his points before the U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation in San Diego.

The hearing was a circus of lawyers, as The Wall Street Journal reported Friday. Two dozen attorneys had only two minutes each to make statement to the judicial panel, arguing that the cases be handled in venues such as Louisiana, for example. The Journal compared the proceedings to speed-dating. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704094104575143690736388422.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection “At stake are huge fees that the only a few lawyers will collect in the suits against Toyota…Lawyers based where the lawsuits are heard will have a good shot at taking the lead position in the cases,” The Journal wrote.

There have been 140 suits filed in federal courts against Toyota, and many more are pending in state courts.

Friday The Los Angeles Times offered an updated tally of the number of deaths now blamed on the acceleration of Toyota vehicles. It is more than 100, according to The Times, twice the number reported two months ago. http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-toyota-deaths26-2010mar26,0,5790258.story

Toyota’s Acceleration Problems Could Have Lead to Man’s Manslaughter Conviction, He Seeks Exam Of His Camry

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Posted on 4th March 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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We’ve all heard of cases when an innocent man is freed from prison after someone steps forward, or new evidence appears, to clear the convicted one of his crime. A similar case has surfaced, but in this one an imprisoned man claims he should be released in light of Toyota’s admitted problem with the sudden acceleration of its some of its vehicles.

On the surface, it looks like the Toyota acceleration screw-up not only killed people, but also put a guiltless man in jail.

Koua Fong Lee is serving an eight-year term for a manslaughter conviction stemming from an accident that killed three people. Lee was driving a 1998 Toyota Camry, one of the vehicles recalled by the automaker, when the crash happened.

http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/koua-fong-lee-claims-faulty-toyota-brakes-caused-deadly-accident/19380139?icid=main|main|dl1|link1|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aolnews.com%2Fnation%2Farticle%2Fkoua-fong-lee-claims-faulty-toyota-brakes-caused-deadly-accident%2F19380139

Lee was 29 when the accident took place in June 2006. He was driving home from church in St. Paul, Minn., with his pregnant wife, daughter, father, brother and niece in his car.

Lee had maintained that his Camry suddenly accelerated. Obviously, a jury didn’t believe him. He crashed into several cars ahead of him, killing Javis Adams and his 10-year-old son, Javis Adams Jr. Another child, 6-year-old Devyn Bolton, also died.

During the trial, the prosecution maintained that Lee, a Laotian immigrant, has his foot on the gas when his car crashed. Two inspections done by mechanical engineers maintained that the car’s brakes were working when the crash took place.

Lee’s legal counsel plans to ask court approval to have his Camry from the accident, which is still in police custody, examined by experts who are familiar with the car’s acceleration problems

All’s Well Is Not Ending Well With Toyota Repairs

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Posted on 3rd March 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Toyota is far from off the hook for its deadly accelerator problems, which has resulted in accidents that have killed dozens of people. Now, federal officials are weighing whether to make all trucks and cars made in the U.S. have brakes that can override gas pedals. http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2010/03/feds-weigh-requiring-brake-devices-on-cars-to-prevent-runaway-acceleration/1

That’s what Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said to Congress on Tuesday.

Right now Washington officials are pinning 52 deaths on Toyota vehicles that suddenly accelerated and crashed. The auto makers has issued 10 million recall notices.

But that’s not what’s most scary now. There are reports that Toyota’s vehicle recall and repairs may not be working. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received at least seven complaints from people who claim their Toyotas have still suddenly accelerated after having their gas pedals fixed and floor mats replaced by dealerships.

The Toyota Debacle, With The Los Angeles Times Counting At Least 56 Dead from Sudden-Acceleration Accidents

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Posted on 1st March 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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The story of Toyota’s deadly failure to remedy the acceleration problems with its cars had endless twists last week, when Congress held hearings on the matter.

This week, the media is offering up an analysis of what Toyota did and didn’t do, with U.S. lawmakers accusing the automaker of withholding information and other drama. For example, Time magazine did a lively review of the hearings.
http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,1968086,00.html#

It’s hard to keep track of it all.

But what often gets neglected in the headlines about the Washington hearings and the official apologies by Toyota management is that people, a lot of people, died terrifying deaths because of these faulty brakes.

But these week, we got some of the heart-breaking stories of those who died when their cars accelerated, speeding out of their control.

First, the Los Angeles Times did lot of legwork and found that at least 56 people have died in accidents related to the sudden acceleration of their Toyota vehicles.
http://articles.latimes.com/2010/feb/28/business/la-fi-toyota-deaths-mainbar28-2010feb28

That piece offers an overview of some of the circumstances and details of these crashes, which may have been avoided if Toyota had acted sooner. The common theme seems to be the terror and helplessness the victims felt before their cars sped out of control and they were killed.

The second story offers a capsule account of each of the 56 deaths, with the person’s name, date of their fatal accident and the circumstances.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/la-fiw-toyota-deaths-list28-2010feb28,0,3224161,print.story

It humanizes these people. It reminds us of when The New York Times wrote profiles of each victim of the 9/11 terrorist attack on the World Trade Center in New York City. It put a face on those innocents.

The National Highway Safety Board has actually bought the Lexus ES 350 that was owned by hearing witnesses Rhonda and Eddie Smith of Tennessee. They described how their Lexus accelerated on a highway for six long minutes until Rhonda got control of the vehicle again.
http://content.usatoday.com/communities/driveon/post/2010/02/feds-to-study-lexus-that-almost-killed-tenneessee-woman/1

Toyota’s President, And The Car Maker, Come Under Even More Fire, Including a Criminal Probe

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Posted on 23rd February 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Toyota Motor Corp. president Aldo Toyoda will be on the hot seat Wednesday as he answers Congress’s questions about the recall of cars plagued by potentially deadly acceleration issues. Toyoda seems to be trying to make up for the ill-conceived and defensive approach he and the auto maker have taken in this public-relations debacle. But it may be too late, in many respects.

The Wall Street Journal Tuesday has a Page One story, headlined “Support Wavers At Toyota for Chief,” about how the company’s rank-and-file employees and management think Toyoda dropped the ball in his handling of the recalls.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703494404575081102279562036.html#mod=todays_us_nonsub_page_one

There are complaints about his lack of leadership during the company’s worst crisis in history. Even more shocking, some Toyota managers complained that they were not keep p to date about what the company’s actions relating to the recalls, and times first hearing about what was going on after reading it in the media.

Inside the same issue of The Journal, Toyoda had written an Op-Ed piece that really doesn’t do a very convincing job of explaining away Toyota’s too-slow handling of the brakes’ malfunction that has affected its Camry, Lexus and Prius lines.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704454304575081644051321722.html

Perhaps careful not to admit culpability, in light of the lawsuits Toyota faces from families of those killed when their cars suddenly accelerated, Toyoda’s piece was not very passionate, heart-felt or eloquent. You can read it and decide for yourself.

But that may be the least of Toyota’s woes. News broke Tuesday that a federal grand jury and the Securities and Exchange Commission had subpoenaed company documents, kicking off a criminal probe of the car maker’s attempts to deal with fatal problems with accelerator pedals, brakes and floor mats.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704454304575081363213478420.html?KEYWORDS=toyota+and+subpoena

Toyota, After Saving $100 million by Limiting Prior Camry Recall, May Have Been Penny-Wise and Pound Foolish

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Posted on 22nd February 2010 by Gordon Johnson in Uncategorized

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Toyota, once reputed to be one of America’s most trusted auto brands, keeps digging itself deeper in trouble as more revelations come out about its bungling of its car recall. Hollywood couldn’t have scripted a bigger debacle for an auto maker. The debacle has taken many lives. Hopefully, those killed or injured during the sudden acceleration of their Camrys will ultimately get justice in courts. But if Toyota and other corporations don’t learn from these mistakes, they will just keep happening.

In the latest twist in the convoluted Toyota story, The New York Times wrote Monday that the Japanese auto maker figured it could save $100 million by getting lawmakers to agree to a limited recall for the 2007 Camry and Lexus ES cars.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/22/business/22toyota.html?hp

That recall was for the same issue that has plagued Toyotas now, namely accelerator pedals getting stuck and cars racing out of control.

The information about the limited recall, part of a presentation, was part of the documents subpoenaed by the U.S. House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, according to The Times.

So far Toyota has recalled more than 8 million cars globally about the issue of accelerators getting stuck. The company has also stopped making and selling the vehicles with suspected accelerator problems.

The $100 million is savings figure was part of a confidential presentation that the president of Toyota’s North American operations, Yoshimi Inaba, made to his staff in Washington.

The car maker said it had gotten several favorable federal rulings regarding a 2007 recall of the Camry and Lexus ES 350 sedans for faulty accelerator pedals. Toyota boasted that by negotiating an equipment recall with the finding of a defect, the company saved $100 million. It also said it had delayed the imposition of federal safety rules impacting other models, saving it millions.

As it turns out, that $100 million savings may not have been such a bargain for Toyota.