NATIONAL – Toyota Motor Corp. has agreed to pay an additional $32.425 million in civil penalties as the result of two separate federal investigations into the automaker’s handling of auto recalls.. Toyota will pay the maximum fines allowable under the law – $16.375 million in one case and $16.050 million in the other – in…
NATIONAL – According to the Los Angeles Times (10/5, Bensinger, Vartabedian) reports, “Allstate Corp. has sued Toyota Motor Corp. over sudden-acceleration-related claims it has paid, alleging that the accidents were caused by vehicle defects. The suit, filed Friday in Los Angeles County Superior Court, seeks $3 million in compensation for about 270 claims that the insurance…
NATIONAL – According to The Washington Post (7/30, Cha) reports that Toyota announced yesterday the recall of “412,000 Avalons and Lexuses for steering problems, bringing the number of cars recalled around the world since October to nearly 9 million. The 373,000 recalled Avalons, dating from between 2000 and 2004, have improperly cast steering lock bars…
According to the The New York Times, “All automakers in the United States are required to report flaws in their vehicles to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration within five (5) business days of detection,” but Toyota “has repeatedly failed to report potentially deadly problems. The latest omission to be brought to light — and…
NATIONAL – Toyota has announced a recall of some 270,000 calls across with “potentially faulty engines” that could stall in traffic. If the car stalls in traffic it could cause or be involved in an accident. Therefore, the NHTSA “said Toyota had not formally notified it about a recall. Japan’s top-selling daily Yomiuri said the company…
NATIONAL – A Toyota executive told a congressional panel yesterday that fixing floor mats and sticking pedals on millions of recalled vehicles would “not totally” fix problems with dangerous unintended acceleration. He said that the automaker still hasn’t ruled out electronics as a potential cause of sudden acceleration. Since September 2009, Toyota has recalled millions…
NATIONAL – According to USA Today (1/25, Healey) reports, “Toyota says it knew there were problems with accelerator-pedal assemblies from supplier CTS late last year, but not enough to warrant a recall. The automaker says it hurriedly announced last Thursday a planned recall of 2.3 million Toyotas, back to 2005 models, because the defect trend…
NATIONAL – ABC World News (1/21, lead story, 3:10, Sawyer) reported, “Breaking news this evening. Toyota is recalling 2.3 million cars and trucks tonight, trying to tackle the frightening problem of cars suddenly speeding out of control.” The CBS Evening News (1/21, story 8, 0:20, Couric) noted that “late last year Toyota recalled more than…
NATIONAL – The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration today announced that Toyota has identified a vehicle-based remedy to fix a sudden acceleration safety issue involving floor mats trapping accelerator pedals in various Toyota and Lexus models. Toyota announced the recall of these vehicles in early October and said it would soon develop a vehicle-based remedy…
NATIONAL – Toyota is discussing additional fixes for sudden-acceleration problem. According to The Detroit Free Press (11/18, Gardner) reports, “Federal regulators and Toyota Motor Corp. are discussing whether the automaker needs to fix gas pedals or floor pans in millions of recalled vehicles instead of blaming floor mats, which the automaker had maintained was the source of…