Toyota Settles Suit Over Saylor Car Crash

[Hissyspit]

Source: Los Angeles Times

Toyota settles suit over Saylor car crash
The fatal crash near San Diego last year drew national attention to sudden acceleration in its vehicles and led to huge recalls. The settlement leaves out co-defendant Bob Baker Lexus dealership.

Ken Bensinger
September 17, 2010|6:49 p.m.

Toyota Motor Corp. has quietly settled a high-profile lawsuit over a fatal crash near San Diego last year that drew national attention to sudden acceleration in its vehicles and led to massive recalls and an unprecedented apology from its president.

The automaker revealed the settlement in a letter to a California Superior Court judge, but declined to provide any details of the terms, which it is seeking to keep confidential.

By getting the case off its growing plate of legal woes, Toyota can focus on an aggressive strategy to fend off lawsuits with less dramatic evidence, many of which point to potential electronic problems in vehicles.

But the settlement has left out co-defendant Bob Baker Lexus, a move by the automaker that could set the stage for a potentially bloody fight with its own dealers over who is to blame for sudden acceleration incidents.

Read more: http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-toyota-lawsuit-20100918,0,1179823.story

[proud2BlibKansan]

1. Just bought a new Toyota

:hide:

[Merlot]

2. Not sure how the dealerships should be held responsible

unless they knew ahead of time that the cars had this issue? still, what are they gonna do?

[MindPilot]

3. In this particular case...

at least a contributing factor is that the car was one of the dealer's loaners and it had an incorrect or ill-fitting floormat on the driver's side which allegedly jammed the throttle pedal. For that, the dealer--the owner of the vehicle--would have liability.

[Merlot]

4. In that case, it makes sense the dealer should share some liability