NATIONAL – According the the Los Angeles Times (7/29, Bensinger, Vartabedian) reports that Toyota has often dismissed the data collected by its event data recorders as “unreliable” and collected by “unproven technology. … Now, facing continued claims that its vehicles are defective, Toyota appears to have done an about-face” and “has been citing data from black…
NATIONAL – Toyota is being accused of planting a story in The Wall Street Journal asserting that federal regulators were blaming dozens of unintended acceleration incidents involving the company’s vehicles on “driver error.” According to the Web site Just-Auto.com, a spokesperson for the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has refuted the claims made in…
Last week a federal judge ordered Toyota Motor Corp. to turn over thousands of pages of records to lawyers who have sued the Japanese automaker because of alleged sudden-acceleration problems. US District Judge gave Toyota thirty days to turn over documents that it had previously supplied Congress and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The…
PASCO COUNTY – According to the Florida Highway Patrol, a Toyota collided with a semi-tractor trailer on SR-54, east of Mitchell Ranch Road in Trinity / New Port Richey. The driver of the Toyota traveled across the center median into the path of the semi-tractor-trailer. The driver of the Toyota died from the impact of…
NATIONAL – According to The Washington Post (5/11, Whoriskey) reports NHTSA is “opening a second investigation into whether Toyota delayed notifying government authorities of a dangerous defect, this one affecting the steering systems of nearly 1 million sport-utility vehicles and pickup trucks. The probe…comes a little more than a month after the agency fined the…
NATIONAL – According to an Associated Press (AP) investigation, Toyota has routinely engaged in questionable, evasive and deceptive legal tactics when sued, frequently claiming it does not have information it is required to turn over and sometimes even ignoring court orders to produce key documents. In a review of lawsuits filed around the country involving…
NATIONAL – According to a recent article published in USA Today, State Farm Insurance Companies will be seeking repayment from Toyota on unintended acceleration claims. “Armed with reports of accidents for which they’ve already paid claims, State Farm insurance has asked Toyota to repay them for any crashes related to unintended acceleration by its vehicles.” Other…
NATIONAL – The NHTSA will seek the maximum possible penalty from Toyota-over $16 million-in its faulty accelerator case generated significant coverage, with reports on all three network news broadcasts and heavy reporting in major papers, wire services, and news sites. ABC World News reported that the government “accused Toyota of, in essence, a cover up,…
NATIONAL – In a column in Forbes (2/22), analytical services company Oxford Analytica wrote that lawsuits against Toyota will include “traditional product liability claims,” as well as “claims that seek to recover cars’ ‘lost value’” and “shareholder suits that seek to recover for the drop in the company’s share price.” The column assesses the lost…
NATIONAL – According to a Transportation Department official, they plan to begin a formal investigation into potential problems with the 2009-2010 Toyota Corolla power steering. The Toyota Motor Corporation was already looking into some complaints of power steering problems with the Corolla and was considering a recall. However, Toyota said “there have been fewer than…