Federal Lawsuit Alleges Toyota Concealed Safety Information and that the Current Recall Needs to Cover More Vehicles | Dallas, Texas Personal Injury Attorney Blog

Federal class action lawsuit has been filed in Charleston, West Virginia claiming Toyota’s massive recall is not large enough in scope to cover all of the affected vehicles. The lawsuit claims that other models have faulty electronic throttle systems that might cause unwanted acceleration.

The Charleston lawsuit, filed in November, names 13 models dating back to 2002 for the Toyota Camry and 1998 for Lexus vehicles that have an electronic throttle-control system, or ETCS, which allegedly has “a dangerous propensity to suddenly accelerate without driver input and against the intentions of the driver.”

Moreover, when reports of incidents caused by unwanted acceleration led to an investigation by the NHTSA in 2004, the information provided by Toyota officials was limited in scope so as to exclude incidents that lasted longer than one second or where the driver couldn’t stop the unwanted surge by applying the brake, according to the lawsuit.

The lawsuit alleges “Toyota, through [Toyota Motor North America], deceptively concealed from NHTSA as well as from the news media and consumer safety groups that monitor NHTSA safety defect investigations, an entire universe of potentially relevant customer complaints,” the lawsuit states.

In addition to those, the lawsuit alleges, several other models and years are at risk:

• 2007-08 FJ Cruisers,
• 2003-08 Tacoma pickups,
• 2002-09 Camrys,
• 2000-09 Tundra pickups,
• 2001-09 4Runner SUVs,
• 2001-09 Land Cruisers,
• 2005-09 RAV4s,
• 2001-09 Sequoias,
• 2004-09 Siennas,
• 2005-09 Corollas, and
• 2004-09 Highlanders.
• “Lexus models” from 1998 to 2009 also are listed.