According to media reports, a California Toyota owner barely escaped serious personal injury when his Toyota Prius accelerated to 94 mph on a San Diego freeway.

The driver and owner of the Prius, James Sikes, contacted 911 emergency from his cell phone when his Toyota would not slow down after he had passed another car on the freeway.

According to the driver, he had moved to pass another vehicle, accelerated, and then found that his car was out of control and that he was unable to slow it down.  Mr. Sikes stated, “I pushed the gas pedal to pass a car and it did something kind of funny…it just stuck there[.]”

After calling 911 a California Highway Patrol officer responded and helped bring the Prius to a stop safely without any personal injuries or harm to Mr. Sikes or other drivers.

As reported by the media, Toyota stated that it has sent a specialist or expert to San Diego in order to investigate the accident.

Toyota has recently recalled over six million vehicles in the United States for sudden or unintentional acceleration issues and product defect problems.  Consumers and Toyota owners have reported sudden acceleration problems since before 2000.  And federal officials have linked over 30 deaths to acceleration problems in Toyota cars.

Based on an article in the LA Times, a picture of Toyota is beginning to take shape that doesn’t quite look like the company we thought we knew.  What it does look like is a company that ignores potential personal injury risks to its consumers, ignores employee concerns about safety issues, and literally works its workers to death.

According to the Times, a group of six veteran Toyota union employees sent a memo to the company’s senior management indicating that they had recognized a dangerous and troubling trend with Toyota that was putting consumers at risk for personal injuries and could damage the company fatally.

Toyota Headquarters In Japan

The memo these workers penned pointed out that from 2000 to 2005 Toyota had recalled over 5 million cars, which was 36% of Toyota vehicles sold.  The memo also pointed out that the company was taking “dangerous safety and manpower shortcuts to lower costs and boost production.”

The employees feared and warned that Toyota’s failure to act on these issues would become a problem that could impact the company’s survival.  The Times notes that despite the workers’ fears, Toyota never responded to the issues raised in the memo.

This was a memo that dealt with safety and personal injury issues in such a way that the authors knew it could seriously impact their careers.  They believed, however, that consumer safety and personal injury issues demanded that they act.

And as shocking and alarming as the Toyota workers’ memo is, it’s not the only memo or report to recently call into question Toyota’s practices.

The National Labor Committee, a human rights advocacy organization in the U.S., issues a report in 2008 called “The Toyota You Don’t Know.”  The report details human rights violations and even links Toyota to human trafficking and sweatshop style abuses of its foreign workers from China and Vietnam, according to the Times.
The report even indicates that similar abuses were starting to show up in the company’s nonunion plants in southern states in the U.S.

The allegations in the Toyota employees’ memo and the National Labor Committee’s report are serious and disturbing.  And this story is more than enough to make even a loyal Toyota customer stop and take another look.  But our story, and the complaints about Toyota, continues.

Enter Hiroka Uchino.  According to the Times, her complaints about Toyota have very little to do with the recall.  She believes that Toyota, to put it frankly, worked her husband to death.

Her husband, Kenichi Uchino, and father of their two children died at his desk at 4:30 in the morning at the age of 30.  Kenichi normally worked 14 hour days and often up to 144 hours of unpaid overtime each month.  A Japanese court ruled that he had died from what is known as karoshi – working himself to death.

Fumio Matsuda is known in Japan as his country’s Ralph Nadar.  He has been a workplace safety and consumer advocate since the early 70s.  He formed the Japan Automobile Consumer Union and is a vocal critic of Toyota’s workplace and consumer practices.

He describes Toyota as one of the most secretive companies in the world.  The Times quotes Fumio as stating, “Everything Toyota does is hidden.”

Fumio describes a company that engages in secret recalls where consumers are tricked into bringing their vehicles in for check ups and the product defect is repaired the the customer is charged for the work.  He also states that he believes that Toyota was aware of the product defect problems that are currently plaguing the company long before a recall was ever implemented.

In Fumio’s estimation, eventually criminal charges will be brought against the company.

Dozens of deaths and many serious personal injuries have been linked to Toyota’s sudden acceleration problems.  The company has recalled nearly 10 million vehicles worldwide and the issue has cost the company customers and called into question the company’s safety practices and attitudes toward consumers.

But now a new issue is calling into question the remedy that Toyota has chosen to address the unintentional acceleration issues in its vehicles.  According to the AP and other media reports, NHTSA has received over 60 reports of sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles after the problem was supposedly fixed.

Toyota Accelerator Recall Repair Kit

The agency has stated that it is taking this issue very seriously and is reportedly contacting every owner to learn more about the reported problem.

This issue raises the very serious question of whether Toyota has properly identified the root-cause of the sudden acceleration problems.  And at a minimum, should these consumer complaints turn out to be accurate, this issue calls into question whether the “fix” or remedy Toyota has chosen is appropriate.

NHTSA has indicated that if the remedy chosen by Toyota turns out not to be addressing the problem that it was intended to address, then the agency may order Toyota to provide a different and more appropriate remedy.

The company, the world’s largest automaker, has recalled about 8 million cars and trucks worldwide for defects that may cause sudden acceleration. It is reshaping and replacing pedals and utilizing pedal repair kits like the one illustrated above and to the right.

Many experts and consumer advocates have asserted that Toyota turned a deaf ear to safety issues and is continuing to do so in the company’s insistence that the problem is not a “sticky” pedal but the electronic throttle system.

For instance, Rep. Bart Stupak stated that consumers should not feel very safe driving a Toyota.  The Congressman stated, “‘You really don’t know when it’s going to occur and that’s the uncertainty which should cause safety concerns[.]” Rep.Stupak, is a Michigan Democrat and chairman of a House subcommittee probing Toyota.

The Congressman also stated in an interview on Bloomberg Television, “…I don’t think yet they have an answer[.]“  Stupak further stated that Toyota had a glitch in their vehicles’ computers – residing either in the software or electronic system but that he did not believe the company really knew which.

NHTSA is considering an industry wide solution to address the problem.  For instance, if all new vehicles were required to have an overriding braking system as some car manufacturers currently do, the problem could be averted.

Many readers may recall John Saylor and his family – they suffered fatal personal injuries when their Lexus suddenly accelerated out of control in San Diego California.  It was only after Mr. Saylor’s 911 tape was recorded and played by the media that Toyota instituted the current recall regarding unintentional acceleration.

Well, according to media reports, relatives of the family filed suit against Toyota in California state court.

The lawsuit seeks unspecified damages for the personal injuries and wrongful death of Mr. Saylor and his family.

Mr. Saylor was an off duty California Highway Patrol Officer.  He has been mentioned several times by Toyota’s CEO during his testimony before Congress.

According to media reports, Toyota documents indicate that the company was aware of declining safety, and thus potential personal injury, issues in 2006.

As reported by the Detroit News, internal Toyota documents presented to Congress, former Toyota North America chief Jim Press  actually warned Toyota executives of declining safety and quality issues back in 2006. Mr. Press in an internal presentation called for the company to strengthen its relationship with NHTSA and related organizations.

Mr. Press also urged Toyota officials in Japan to “…support with timely, reasonable requests to investigations…” and  to “…consider image impact of technical responses…” in regards to safety and quality issues. Press also warned the company that as recalls due to product defect issues increased, customer loyalty would suffer.

There are many critics of Toyota, including a former in house counsel that is now suing Toyota, who have argued for quite some time that Toyota has been deaf to consumer complaints, safety and potential personal injury or product liability issues, and stubbornly inept with an appropriate response to the multitude of product liability issues currently facing the company.  Unfortunately, reports like the one cited above only add fuel to that fire.

For the health of the company, the industry as a whole, and for the sake of personal injury victims and potential injury victims Toyota needs to address these issues in a more open, honest and straightforward manner.

San Francisco injury attorney Brett A. Burlison addresses questions that consumers and injury victims might have about the Toyota recall, the product defect and product liability issues involved, and where to get additional information.

I hope you find this video useful. If you have additional questions regarding the Toyota recall, how it impacts you, or other product liability questions feel free to leave a comment.

Good luck.

Dimitrios Biller, a former in-house attorney for Toyota is involved in litigation with the company and has alleged that Toyota illegally withheld documents in discovery during personal injury and product liability lawsuits brought by injury victims.

And as was reported here previously on San Francisco Injury Law Answers, the House Oversight Committee subpoenaed documents from Mr. Biller regarding safety issues currently facing the company.

Well, the Committee has had time to review the documents from Mr. Biller and they have determined that  Toyota has engaged in a “…systematic disregard for the law.”

On Friday, Rep. Edolphus Towns (D., N.Y.), the Oversight Committee chairman, sent a letter to Toyota’s chief of its North American operations demanding answers.

The letter stated, “We have reviewed these documents and found evidence that Toyota deliberately withheld relevant electronic records that it was legally required to produce in response to discovery orders in litigation[.]”

According to media reports, Toyota spokesperson has indicated that Toyota acted appropriately under the circumstances.

Here at San Francisco Injury Law Answers I try and answer questions that injury victims and consumers in the San Francisco area and throughout California have regarding personal injury, product liability, and wrongful death matters.

Right now, Toyota has instituted one of the largest worldwide recalls in automotive history.  In fact, there is not only one recall taking place but several.  I have written about these issues on this blog as well as my Legal Blog located within my main website.

But if you or a loved one has been injured by a Toyota product or in any personal injury accident, feel free to send me an email, comment, or contact my office directly.

In the meantime, for specific questions about what to do if your vehicle is one of the many being recalled, contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Hotline at 1-888-327-4236 or the Toyota Experience Center at 1-800-331-4331 or the Lexus Customer Assistance Center at 1-800-255-3987 or Pontiac at 1-800-762-2737.

Toyota’s website and safety information can be found by clicking this link: Toyota Safety Information.

With enough personal injury and product liability problems to stretch from San Francisco to New York, Toyota CEO and Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood appeared separately before Congress.

Secretary LaHood defended NHTSA’s response to the Toyota recall problems and attempted to convey to members of the panel that the agency was not Toyota’s lap-dog.

Ed Towns (D-N.Y.) commented to LaHood that NHTSA had received over 1,000 complaints about Toyota acceleration problems before launching an investigation.

Towns asked pointedly, “Why did it take NHTSA so long to act?”

Secretary LaHood reminded the Congressman that he was only recently appointed by President Obama and that he couldn’t answer for what happened before he arrived on the job.  him,

When pressed by Rep. Towns, “Do you think it’s safe to drive a Toyota today?”  Secretary LaHood answered clearly that the vehicles listed on NHTSA’s website aren’t safe to drive: “I will say this: If people check our Web site, we have listed every Toyota that is up for recall. I want anybody that has any one of those cars to take it to their dealer and to make sure it gets fixed.”

Secretary LaHood continued answering questions and stated that he believe Toyota had become “safety-deaf.”

And in an odd exchange that seemed as Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) was attempting to come to the defense of Toyota by insinuating that Toyota was held to a higher standard than American auto makers LaHood stood his ground.

As if implying some labor union conspiracy involved in all of this Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-Utah) asked Secretary LaHood if unions are involved in NHTSA’s investigations of U.S. vehicles.  The Secretary stated – absolutely not.

Toyota is facing one of the most dangerous – personal injury related – product liability problems and largest recall in the history of car making, possibly in the entire history of manufacturing.  So, I would think that unambiguous answers from the company’s chief executive before Congress would be a good place to start.  But I suppose Toyota doesn’t agree.

In contrast to his earlier statements, James Lentz, the American president of Toyota, stated while testifying on Capitol Hill today that the “fix” involved in Toyota’s recall regarding unintentional acceleration problems may “not totally” fix the problem.

It should be noted that the company has emphatically denied that the problem behind its recall is anything other than “sticky” pedals and bad floor mats.  And Toyota, including Mr. Lentz during the same testimony as just mentioned, has strenuously denied that the problem could be the electronic throttle system.  A direction several experts and analysts have suggested.

Massachusetts Representative Edward Markey (D-MA) got a little heated with Mr. Lentz during the questioning.  “You said you had solved the problem, you don’t know if you have solved the problem.” Rep. Markey stressed.

Mr. Lentz insisted that the problem was not electronic but that the company was being vigilant in its continued investigation.

When pressed on how Toyota, a company originally known for quality, could find itself in this situation – Mr. Lentz replied, “We lost sight of our customers.”