August 6, 2013

If you recall in 2009 and 2010, Toyota recalled more than 10 million vehicles worldwide for problems related to possible unintended acceleration.

On July 19, 2013, Bloomberg reported Toyota Motor Corporation won final approval of a settlement, valued at as much as $1.63 billion by plaintiff lawyers, with U.S. consumers who claimed that recalls related to sudden, unintended acceleration caused their vehicles to lose value.

On the same date the settlement was announced, jury selection begin in a Los Angeles trial stemming from a lawsuit alleging that Toyota should be held responsible for unintended acceleration in a woman’s 2006 Camry. The owner of that vehicle was killed when her vehicle crashed into a telephone pole and a tree according to the Associated Press.

That settlement doesn’t resolve personal-injury and wrongful-death lawsuits based on allegations Toyota’s vehicles caused accidents through unintended acceleration.

Lawsuits could be facing Toyota for some time and in January; Toyota settled the first bellwether case. That settlement did not go to trial.

It doesn’t appear that the problem from the unintended acceleration has influenced the buying decisions of Toyota owners. In the January-June period of 2013, even though sales were down 1.2% world-wide for Toyota from the previous year, it remained number one. Toyota sold 4.91 million cars and trucks while GM sold 4.85 million vehicles.