Federal judge refuses to dismiss Toyota acceleration lawsuit

A judge for the US District Court for the Central District of California on Friday denied a motion by Toyota to dismiss a class action lawsuit filed over the alleged sudden-acceleration defects. A final ruling is expected within the next two weeks. Last month, judge James Selna agreed to dismiss economic damage claims from foreign Toyota buyers, citing a lack of standing.

In December, Toyota settled US federal investigations by agreeing to pay a record $32.4m in extra fines for product defects and poor handling of a recall. The fines stem from two investigations conducted by the NHTSA - National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The first, a fine of $16.375m, concerned nearly five million vehicles with accelerator pedals entrapped by floor mats, which caused at least one fatal accident in California. The second, a fine of $16.050m, resulted from Toyota's failure to notify the NHTSA of a safety defect in several Toyota models' steering relay rods. Toyota has been under federal scrutiny since December 2009, and has conducted several recalls. Toyota's product recalls have been analyzed by Forum guest columnist Bruce Aronson of Creighton University School of Law in the op-ed Learning from Toyota's Troubles - Where's the Board?

(Published by Jurist - May 1, 2011)