- Toyota has settled a sudden-acceleration lawsuit filed by the families of four people killed in a fiery crash last August near San Diego.
- The driver, a California Highway Patrol officer, was unable to slow the Lexus sedan.
SAN DIEGO — Toyota said Saturday it has settled a high-profile product liability lawsuit filed by the families of four people — including a California highway patrolman — killed in a fiery crash last August near San Diego. The terms of the settlement were not disclosed.
The crash triggered a wave of recalls by Toyota and an ongoing Congressional probe and commanded national headlines.
A passenger told a 911 operator that the officer was unable to slow the 2009 Lexus ES 350, a loaner car, on the morning of August 28, which he was driving after taking his vehicle in for service. The highway patrol later said the car reached 120 miles per hour before crashing in a ravine and blamed the crash on loose floor mats. Mark Saylor, his wife, Cleofe Lastrella, their 13-year-old daughter, Mahala, and Saylor's brother-in-law Chris Lastrella were all killed.
Toyota eventually recalled 5.4 million vehicles in the U.S. to fix the problem. It also faces potential civil liability estimated at more than $10 billion from lawsuits sparked by complaints of runaway vehicles that have led to worldwide recalls of more than 8 million of its vehicles.
"Through mutual respect and cooperation, Toyota and the Saylor and Lastrella families reached an amicable agreement in mediation that fully resolves these claims without the need for litigation," said Toyota in a statement. "We felt that was important for Toyota, the dealer and the families. Toyota is not, however, in a position to address the additional claims the families have against the dealership that are independent of Toyota."
The other defendants in the case, John Saylor vs. Toyota Motor Corp., include Bob Baker Lexus and El Cajon Luxury Cars, Inc. The case was filed in San Diego Superior Court.
Inside Line says: Toyota quietly wraps up one high-profile sudden-acceleration lawsuit, but there are many more to follow. — Anita Lienert, Correspondent
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cz_75 says:
01:53 AM, 09/21/2010
A highway patrol officer who can't operate a vehicle well enough to slam it into "neutral" before it hits 120mph?
The brakes on the Camry Lexus are very small for the weight of the vehicle, so perhaps Toyota deserves to be sued for selling a car that can do 130+ yet has brakes that would fade after one or two good stops from highway speed, let alone nearly double that speed. Toyota - guilty of under engineering.
06scooby says:
02:40 PM, 09/20/2010
I'm suprised The dealer wasn't the main defendant on this case. It was their loaner that had the floormat installed wrong. If that was me and I had just picked up the loaner, I probably wouldn't have thought twice about the rubber mat and driven off. I don't think this was the troopers fault in the least.
The other hundreds or thousands of people that have jumped on board... most of those seem to a be a different story. I hope more people don't get payouts on this. Especially since I don't think any of the other cases are the same cause as the troopers case.
fvgtr35 says:
02:31 PM, 09/20/2010
It's a shame, Toyota and Ford (thier settlement a couple months ago) has just opened the door for more ridiculous law suits by people that can't take responsibility for their own actions.
jeremy_c says:
12:18 PM, 09/20/2010
From what I read, the San Diego police and NHTSA investigation actually found nothing wrong with the car in questions. There were no electronic gremlins. The cause of the stuck pedal was some grease monkey pile thick rubber floor mat meant for an SUV on top of the existing car in the car. The stacked mats eventually moved and jammed the gas pedal. In fact a previous customer who drove the exact car (used as a dealership loaner) complained of the same problem and was able to fix it himself.
Clearly Toyot paid just solely for PR reasons. And I am not a Toyota fan but whenever I hear of these sort of calculated settlements or plea bargaining where a person essentially admist guilt for wrongs they did not commit just to avoid legal red tape or get closure, I cringe and felt that a great injustice is done. Nobody wants to hurt the family of the victim but fact remain fact and there is something wrong with the justice system when this sort of things happen.
bai2 says:
08:56 AM, 09/20/2010
Lawyer +1 : Toyota 0