Toyota knew in 2003 of acceleration risk, suit says

A Toyota Motor Corp. technician called sudden acceleration an “extremely dangerous problem” in 2003, six years before the first of several recalls of the company’s vehicles, a lawsuit claimed.

The unidentified Toyota employee “requested immediate action,” after investigating an allegation of unintended acceleration, lawyers for consumers suing the company said in a filing today. “We are also much afraid of frequency of this problem in near future,” the technician wrote in a May 2003 field report cited in the suit.

The report was among multiple documents quoted in a consolidated complaint filed today by consumers claiming economic losses related to sudden acceleration by Toyota vehicles. The lawsuits, which have been combined for pretrial filings and rulings in federal court in Santa Ana, California, claim that Toyota drove down the value of vehicles by failing to fix or disclose defects leading to unintended acceleration.

“Toyota has consistently marketed its vehicles as safe and proclaimed that safety is one of its highest corporate priorities,” consumer lawyers said in an amended complaint, citing documents provided to U.S. regulators and Congress. “The defects causing unintended acceleration have caused defective vehicles’ values to plummet.”

Rejects Claims

Toyota rejects claims the plaintiffs suffered economic damages because of the recent recalls, spokeswoman Celeste Migliore said in an e-mail.

“Reliable scientific evidence will demonstrate the safety of our vehicles in the investigations currently under way and, ultimately, to the court,” she said.

Also today, a Maryland public employee pension fund was named lead plaintiff in a consolidated shareholder lawsuit against Toyota that alleges the carmaker didn’t disclose sudden- acceleration related defects. U.S. District Judge Dale Fischer, at a hearing in Los Angeles named the fund’s law firm, Bernstein Litowitz Berger & Grossman LLP, lead counsel.

Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, faces more than 300 federal and state lawsuits including proposed class actions over economic losses and claims of personal injuries or deaths caused by sudden-acceleration incidents. Today’s complaint consolidates and expands on the claims of consumers who’ve filed lawsuits over lost vehicle value.

Recalled Vehicles

The company, based in Toyota City, Japan, has recalled more than 8 million vehicles for repairs related to sudden, unintended acceleration. In September the automaker announced a recall of 3.8 million Toyota and Lexus vehicles because of a defect that may cause floor mats to jam accelerator pedals. The company later recalled vehicles over defects involving the pedals themselves.

All the class actions and most of the individual lawsuits were filed after September.

The cases are combined as In re Toyota Motor Corp. Unintended Acceleration Marketing, Sales Practices and Products Liability Litigation, 8:10-ml-02151, U.S. District Court, Central District of California (Santa Ana). The shareholder case is Stackhouse v. Toyota Motor Corp., 10-00922, U.S. District Court, Central District of California (Los Angeles).