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Calif. lawsuit claims Toyota hid defect evidence
Mechanics fix Toyota vehicles inside a service centre in Taipei March 3, 2010.
Credit: Reuters/Nicky Loh
SANTA ANA, California |
SANTA ANA, California (Reuters) - Southern California prosecutors filed the first U.S. consumer protection lawsuit against Toyota Motor Corp on Friday, claiming it had engaged in "fraud" by hiding evidence of dangerous vehicle defects.
Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas said his office along with private attorneys sued the U.S. sales arm of Toyota, charging that the world's top-selling automaker has endangered the public with defective vehicles, and engaged in deceptive business practices.
"Against this backdrop of fraud and concealment, Toyota has for decades touted its reputation for safety and reliability and knew that people bought its vehicles because of that reputation and yet purposefully chose to conceal and suppress the existence and nature of defects," said the 18-page lawsuit filed on Friday morning.
The suit seeks to keep Toyota "from continuing to endanger the public through the sale of defective vehicles and deceptive business practices."
A Toyota spokesman said the company had no immediate comment.
Toyota has recalled more than 8 million vehicles globally to address the risk that accelerator pedals on a range of its vehicles could become stuck because of a loose floor mat or a glitch in the pedal assembly.
Unintended acceleration in the company's Toyota and Lexus vehicles has been linked to at least five U.S. crash deaths since 2007. Authorities are investigating reports alleging 47 other fatalities over the past decade.
The suit charges that Toyota knew about the defects in "selling and leasing hundreds of thousands of cars and trucks with defects that caused sudden unexpected and uncontrollable acceleration."
Rackauckas told a news conference that his office will work with private attorneys from Robinson, Calcagnie and Robinson of Newport Beach in Orange County.
Rackauckas, a Republican who is up for re-election this year, defended his office's filing of the suit and the hiring of the private attorneys.
The news conference drew a lone demonstrator carrying a green sign that read, "I (heart) Toyota." The demonstrator, Kerri Wilson, said her husband worked for Toyota. She briefly engaged a Rackauckus staff member over the DA's involvement in the case, suggesting that it was done for political gain.
Rackauckas told reporters he was becoming increasingly concerned about the safety of consumers and that his office has jurisdiction because Toyota's U.S. headquarters is in California. He also said that the private attorneys will be paid from any proceeds of the lawsuit.
Orange County is just north of San Diego County, where a California Highway Patrol trooper and three members of his family were killed in a crash last August involving a Toyota vehicle. It abuts Los Angeles County, where Toyota has its U.S. sales headquarters in Torrance.
(Additional reporting by Bernie Woodall in Detroit, editing by Matthew Lewis)
It’s good that California is jumping in here. Even though there’s probably no conflict of interest, the US Government doesn’t have “clean hands” on this investigation because they own an unrepaid stake in GM. So it could reach a political snafu at some point. But if the states engage and address, that alleviates any doubt.
Shouldn’t have closed that plant in Fremont. Mitch McConnell can’t help them now. He’s made too many insane statements about the current insurance regulations the Democrats have been pushing. Plus he’s got his own plants in Kentucky to worry about. I should be able to get a great deal on a new Toyota this weekend. Sweet. Thanks Obama.
FINALLY people are getting that these ‘foreign’ made/designed cars are no better than the ones made/designed in the USA!
I always wondered, if HONDA was such a ‘great’ car and NEVER needed repairs, then why are there so many mechanics advertising they are “Honda Specialists” Same goes for Toyota too…
There shouldn’t NEED to be any “Toyota Specialists” if the cars were so good!
But have you seen any ads that say they are “Dodge Specialists”?? I certainly don’t!!
Oh, that’s great. I wonder what would’ve happened if the State of California had shown as much alacrity in suing Enron. We could all have afforded insurance.
What is most shocking is that people are just now paying attention to recalls. It also happens to be at the end of a company that was purchased by the government, yet recalls have occured for years upon years. In fact if you care to do mre than whine and cry and research information you will find that even though Toyota is under the microscope they pale in comparison to all the domestic manufactures when it comes to recalls. When it comes to recalls Toyota is 1/5 the size of recalls then GM and Ford. But this year the government is making a statement? I would think it has something to do with slight of hand magic
There are no recalls on the ‘08 Pontiac G8. Therre is a TSB on the brake light switch and for adjusting the TPMS programming. Please get your facts correct before spamming the internet.
All of these manufacturers need to get their teeth kicked in. They feel they’ve the right to steal, & not even give a good product in return. I’m pissed as H*ll @Toyota. I’ve a 2010 Camry w/a number of problems.
Toyota has never had great quality, they’ve had manufactured quality, manufactured by the media and a deceitful practice that hid evidence of their problems. While other companies where having recalls, Toyota was quietly fixing problems in-house, far away from the public’s scrutiny. A company that makes trucks that are rust-buckets, and cars that run-a-way and kill their owners, is not making a quality product.
For years Toyota had been the darling of the media and the consumer magazines, they even had a cozy relationship with the NHTSA, they were spinning their web. Consumer Reports would automatically give them a “best buy,” they didn’t have to earn it. The mainstream media called them the “gold standard”, and their sales went higher and higher. At the same time Consumer Reports and the mainstream media took every opportunity to slam their American competition.
The truth is Toyota never was “the gold standard”, the media had built a false impression of their quality. You can hide the truth for a while, and you may get by with it, but it’s like carrying water in a paper bag, sooner or later it will seep through. The truth about Toyota is seeping through, and they are desperately trying to keep it in, they’ve not been a truthful company. When you make a practice of deceiving the very people you depend on, you are destined for a downfall. The curtains have been pulled, and the wizard was not a wizard at after all. Toyota is just another big bloated corporation that tried to make an easy buck……….and got caught.
