I see lawsuits 4 years.....


Toyota defense' could reverse criminal conviction

Defense wants experts to re-examine Lee's car, still at impound lot
(CNN) -- A man serving eight years for vehicular homicide because of a fatal crash involving his Toyota Camry is hoping for exoneration amid concerns over unintended acceleration in some of Toyota's vehicles.

Koua Fong Lee has always maintained his innocence in the 2006 crash. Then 29 years old, he was driving home from Sunday services with his pregnant wife, father, daughter, brother and niece in his 1996 Toyota Camry.

Lee told investigators that he pumped the brakes as he exited I-94 in St. Paul, Minnesota, and approached an intersection, his lawyer, Brent Schaefer, said. But Ramsey County prosecutors claimed Lee had his foot on the gas as he approached cars waiting at a red light.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/C...tml?hpt=C1

I just saw this story pop up this morning on CNN.com as well. I don't want to be negative, but I have to say that this sort of situation with this guy in jail, and the other people who might have been injured or died because of the sudden acceleration, Toyota might very well face being shut down permanently.

On a smaller example, I remember some hamburger company that made frozen burgers that you buy at the grocer's market. They had an e coli outbreak, and the whole company had to shut down. They are simply no more. It was just too much financially to recover from that.

Toyota might very well face the same fate. It isn't just a bungle on a recall. This story, and the facts, are like an animal. They're living, breathing, and growing daily. Someone's going to have to tame it, or put it down.

I'm surprised the Toyota president hasn't offed himself yet.....

to think that this went on for so long. if the HP police officer hadn't died in the rented Lexus last year, it probably wouldn't have gotten so ugly....

I just wonder how many other car companies have people dying over similar issues that didn't make it to the news

I haven't messed with a new toyota to see its floor mats and if it really is dangerous, but driving itself is very dangerous. People die out there all the time in all makes of cars

If your life or the life of a loved one is saved because Toyota or some other manufacturer had to fix a potentially fatal defect, you know who you have to thank for that?

A trial lawyer.

GM just announced a list of recalls this morning...safety recalls are nothing new in the automotive industry...of course, the big question is did Toyota try to hide something...what one person sees as hiding something another person could view as a solution being worked on behind the scenes...

I do think it's interesting how involved the US govt has become in all of this...after loaning US automakers tons of dough, they now target the largest automaker in the world for wrong-doing...

RodeoSchro said:

Impossible. Lawyers can't do productive things!

Toyota owns WAY too many congressmen and senators to be in real trouble.

.
[Edited 3/2/10 15:40pm]

http://www.abc.net.au/new...830884.htm
stories like these are all over the place




lucky my camry is OLD

ZombieKitten said:

oops! I mean ONE YEAR OLDER

any 95 models with this problem?!?

ZombieKitten said:

Our friend just got a Camry and we've several road trips planned, but hers is around a 2005, I think. All a bit worrying though for older models. I mean, you'd think if a '96 has a problem a slightly earlier or later car might share it if it's the same run of that model.

I have a 95 corolla, there is no chance it has the same floor mat issue, unless ever car has it

my 2000 Camry has a sticky gas peddle but it sticks UP not down....

Fauxie said:

yup, I don't think there was much difference between 95 and 96

OnlyNDaUsa said:

yeah mine too. You push lightly, and then all the sudden lurch forward as the pedal unsticks

so glad I didnt buy the highlander

NDRU said:

yeah! that is it!

NDRU said:

I resent these comments!

I have had friends complain about their Toyota's for many years now, the larger engines failed compulsively, the frames on the Tundra's cracking, problems with rust,...all well documented complaints even before this, so i have to wonder how Toyota bashes their eye lashes or shakes it's ass in such a way for Consumer Reports and other organizations to keep rating Toyota's so highly in terms of quality.
Sure there was a time when Toyota's were much much better than American cars but the complaints about their reliability or lack thereof and of bias by Consumer Reports which have been called into question over the years seem to be clearly legitimized.

It seems Toys reputation as well as GM's & Ford's negative reputation have been set into perpetual motion and preceded them regardless of the facts when it came to both consumers and supposedly unbiased organizations like Consumer Reports.
[Edited 3/2/10 20:07pm]

What the hell has happened to the quality of Toyotas? My very first car when I graduated high school in 1985 was a 1979 Toyota Corrola. I hated the looks of that ugly little car but it was a damn good car. Me being young and stupid and not knowing anything about cars whatsoever had that car from 1985 until 1989. During those almost five years, the only thing I did to that car was put gas in it. Not so much as even an oil change, hell, I didn't even know what the hell an oil change was back then. For a car to last that long with a stupid teenager not even getting so much as an oil change, that's a damn good car. And believe me, I was driving the hell out of that car because driving was new to me and I considered driving "fun" at the time.

As I said before, what in the hell happened to Toyota for the quality to slip that much?

the best toyota ever was the T-18

Toyota T18 - Part Celica, Part Corolla (The Corolla liftback (TE72) of Toyota Australia was badged as simply the T-18)

we had a yellow 1980 model
it had a huge bonnet and underneath there wasn't much there it was a very simple piece of machinery.

people are buying them and doing them up now, if we still had ours we'd be able to sell it for quite a bit even if it was broken

vainandy said:

My first car was a 77' Toyota Corolla. It was over 10 yrs old when I bought it. All I did to it was change the oil and put gas in it. It was not the fastest vehicle around but reliable, no power steering, that was my main complaint.
I paid $1200 for it.
Since then I have only owned one Toyota, a 2005 Tundra.
It was a good truck, my ex put lots of miles on it and it never needed anything besides regular maintenance.

My family owns several Toyota's right now and no trouble with any of them.
I hope the company recovers from this.

get a Volvo

Cuddles said:

if you want a Chinese car that is ...

0x41414141 said:

so Chrysler is has become Italian now?

and now there are reports that the fixes to the cars are not working.

Cuddles said:

wait ... that would be a good thing, no ?