As congressional investigators learned last month, Toyota Motor lobbyists claimed last year to have saved the company $100 million by fending off a 2007 federal investigation into unintended acceleration.

Toyota implemented a “game plan” in place for the major recall of vehicles for problems with unintended acceleration. Instead, The Washington Post report, Toyota was able to get away with a much more limited floor mat recall. According to the Post, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), opened the floor mat inquiry in March 2007 after five complaints concerning Toyota’s 2007 Lexus ES350. According to the Post, Toyota had a “game plan” for handling the inquiry and ignored the NHTSA’s findings. The automaker insisted that there was no danger if consumers correctly installed the proper Toyota floor mats; therefore, there were no defects and no grounds for a recall. In the end, the automaker would agree to recall only one kind of floor mat, affecting fewer than 55,000 cars, the Post said.

It wasn’t until this past fall, after the death of a California Highway Patrolman and several members of his family that Toyota finally acknowledges accelerator pedals in 12 different models would need to be fixed to prevent the floor mats from entrapping the accelerator. By then, a total of 20 more deaths had been attributed to unintended acceleration.

Owners of recalled Toyota vehicles can contact M&A Law Firm toll-free at 1.866.789.1664, for getting the best legal help.

home  |  toyota  |  lexus  |  honda  |  bmw  |  volkswagen  |  contact us  |  view blogs