Tales of terror and loss in Toyota-related deaths

[OhioChick]

McClatchy-Tribune News Service February 28, 2010, 10:13AM



Noriko Uno was killed when her 2006 Camry crashed into a light pole at a high speed in Upland, California, on August 28, 2009. Her husband and son have filed a lawsuit against Toyota alleging that Uno died because a defect in the Camry caused it to suddenly accelerate.

LOS ANGELES -- One car barreled through a stop sign, struck a tree and landed upside down in a Texas lake, drowning four people. Another tore across an Indiana street and crashed into a jewelry store. A third raced to an estimated 100 mph on a California street before striking a phone pole, killing the owner of a sushi restaurant.

Most died while doing the mundane: returning to work after lunch, shopping, driving to the bank to make a deposit. The deaths occurred in big cities and small towns throughout the U.S., from Los Angeles to Auburn, N.Y., Tucson, Ariz., to Marietta, Ga. The stories are told in court filings, federal accident complaints and police reports.

At least 56 people have died in U.S. traffic accidents in which sudden unintended acceleration of Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles has been alleged, according to a Los Angeles Times review of public records and interviews with authorities.

In the last decade, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received complaints of 34 fatalities related to sudden acceleration of Toyota vehicles, far more than any other automaker. In addition, at least 22 more deaths related to Toyota acceleration problems have been alleged in lawsuits and police reports.

The NHTSA database does not disclose whether the complaints were valid, and none of the allegations have been proven in court. Still, the growing number of people who blame Toyota vehicles for deaths and injuries comes at a difficult time for the world's largest automaker, which has issued safety recalls on nearly 10 million vehicles worldwide.

Toyota spokesman Brian Lyons declined to comment for this story, saying the company does not discuss cases in which litigation has been, or may be, filed. The company has said it is confident that all models that contain the potentially sticking pedals have been identified and that the recalls will address all problems.

More: http://www.cleveland.com/business/index.ssf/2010/02/tales_of_terror_and_loss_in_to.html

[MindPilot]

1. August 28 was the same day the CHP officer crashed in San Diego

Two in the same day in the same state. Whoa!

[Walk away]

2. According to Edmonds as reported in the WSJ....

"Toyota is getting a lot of attention for sudden unintended acceleration, but Ford Motor Co. has been the subject of more complaints with federal regulators in the recent past. From 2004 to 2009, based on NHTSA data, Ford had 2,806 complaints, compared with Toyota's 2,515. General Motors Co. had 1,192. A study by Edmunds.com, an independent market-research Web site, found that based on the number of vehicles on the road, Toyota ranked 17th in recalls"
<http://online.wsj.com/article/SB20001424052748703510204575085531383717288.html>

[OhioChick]

3. Then, why not start your own thread on it?

:shrug:

[Walk away]

6. Look, I didn't say that Toyota was right. I am pointing out that...

it is an industry wide problem. Sorry if you think injecting a few facts into your danse macabre is hijacking your thread. I didn't realize all you wanted to hear about were more blood and gore.

My own Father just experienced sudden untended acceleration in a Honda Accord. No one is sure why and it hasn't been determined if he was a factor or it was due to a malfunction in the car. To his credit, my Dad isn't sure either so it gets reported to Honda and the insurance company.

Of course the statistics are alarming and covering them up is terrible. But Ford cars bursting into flames is not so great either.

I think I am allowed to express my own opinion.....you don't, so now I am going to block you so I won't make the mistake of ever responding to one of your threads again.

[ChromeFoundry]

8. "so now I am going to block you"

How naive.

She only asked you to create your own thread. Might as well block the rest on this thread that suggested the same.

:eyes:

[spiritual_gunfighter]

4. A textbook example of how to hijack a thread n/t

[DainBramaged]

5. Edmonds, bought and paid for by the industry...

[LWolf]

7. +1

[MindPilot]

9. In five years Ford had almost 300 more complaints than Toyota!

Those Fords are really junk. :sarcasm:

Perhaps the company with more recalls could be the result of being more conscientious about finding and fixing defects?

[amborin]

10. but what about fatalities?

recalls occur for all sorts of reasons....