Toyota settles first wrongful death lawsuit regarding Sudden Acceleration

Toyota Motor Corp. has settled the first in a group of hundreds of pending wrongful death and personal injury lawsuits stemming from the sudden, unintended acceleration by Toyota vehicles.

Agreement was reached in a case brought by the family of Paul Van Alfen and Charlene Jones Lloyd.

They died when their Toyota Camry slammed into a wall in Utah in 2010.  The financial terms cannot be disclosed at this time.

The remaining lawsuits are not affected by the settlement.

Last month Toyota agreed to a settlement worth more than $1 Billion to resolved hundreds of lawsuit claiming economic losses Toyota owners suffered when the Japanese auto-maker recalled millions of vehicles.

If you or someone you know has suffered injured due to a defected car call the experienced product liability attorneys at Buttafuoco & Associates 1-800-669-4878

Toyota Agrees to $1.1 Billion Settlement Tied to Sudden Accelerations

DETROIT — Toyota Motor Corp. agreed on a $1.1 billion settlement toward the class-action lawsuit related to issues of sudden acceleration in its vehicles. A suit was filed in 2010 after numerous complaints were made that Toyota automobiles were accelerating suddenly and causing accidents and injuries.  Since then more then 8 million vehicles in the US have been recalled for problems related to floor mats that could become entangled with accelerator pedals, or pedals that could stick with the throttle open.

While there are still individual personal-injury and wrongful death lawsuits pending against Toyota, in addition to an unfair business practice case brought by the attorneys general of 28 states, the class-action case was the largest legal action related to economic losses by vehicle owners and is one of the largest settlements of its type in automotive history.   Once approved Toyota would make cash payments for the loss of value on these vehicles on up to 3.2 million cars.

The lawsuit was a lingering obstacle for Toyota which had long enjoyed a pristine reputation for quality, safety and reliability.  The settlement appears large but may be part of Toyota’s longer-term strategy to move beyond the acceleration scandal.  Christopher P. Reynolds, Toyota’s chief legal officer in the United States, said "This agreement marks a significant step forward for our company, one that will enable us to put more of our energy, time and resources into Toyota’s central focus: making the best vehicles we can for our customers,”.

Under the proposed settlement, Toyota agreed to:

1. Create a fund of $250 million to pay claims to former owners of cars affected by the acceleration recalls. The company also agreed to install so-called brake override systems on cars whose pedals could stick or become trapped in floor mats. The company said it had already installed the systems on 2.6 million vehicles but that an additional 550,000 cars had not received the equipment.
   
2. Provide a customer support program for more than 16 million current Toyota owners, who will be eligible for free repairs on certain parts for up to 10 years.
   
3. Contribute $30 million to finance automotive safety research related to driver behavior and unintended acceleration. 

The company’s sales in the United States have increased 28 percent this year, about double the pace of growth for the overall market. One industry analyst said the proposed class-action settlement would help Toyota continue to rebuild its reputation and market share. 

“Toyota wants to put its sudden acceleration recalls behind it once and for all,” said Jesse Toprak, an auto research analyst. “As costly as it may be, this settlement will allow them to remove most of the lingering financial uncertainty.” 

If you or someone you know has been injured due to the unintended/sudden acceleration defect in your car call the experienced defective product attorneys at Buttafuoco & Associates 1-800-669-4878

Toyota settled injury claim over sudden acceleration long before latest settlement

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Months before Toyota Motor Corp.’s $1.1 billion settlement of a class action lawsuit, the Japanese automaker settled a long and hard fought battle in Kent County Circuit Court over claims that their cars were prone to sudden acceleration.


In the summer of 2011, Toyota Motor Corp settled two injury cases brought after an August 2008 car accident in which a 2007 Lexus ES350, made by Toyota, careened out of control after its throttle stuck underneath a floor mat.  The runaway car struck a minivan injuring 65-year-old retiree Charles Harrell with a broken pelvis, eight broken ribs, a broken leg and a punctured lung that kept him in the hospital for nearly a month.

Toyota has taken a very aggressive defense stance throughout all of this even though countless lives have been put in danger.

Those injured by the car defect claim the vehicles should have been equipped with a throttle override that activated when his they stepped on the brake. They also argue the dealership should have fixed the defect that caused the floor mat to bunch up under the accelerator pedal.

If you or someone you know have been injured due to a defective car product call the experience product liability attorneys at Buttafuoco & Associates 1-800-669-4878.