Toyota Motor Corp., saying it reached an out-of-court settlement with the family of a California Highway Patrol officer who together with three others died when their car sped out of control and crashed, said it was disappointed that the amount of the settlement was made public, reported Bloomberg.
Toyota, based in Toyota City, Japan, agreed to settle with the family for $10 million, said Larry Willis, an attorney for Bob Baker Lexus, the San Diego car dealership that loaned the Lexus ES350 to Mark Saylor and isn’t part of the settlement.
A court order barring the parties involved from discussing the settlement terms, which must be approved by a state court judge in Los Angeles, expired yesterday.
“These parties agreed to keep the amount confidential, in part to protect the families from unwanted solicitations and to allow them to move on from this difficult period,” the Toyota City, Japan-based automaker said today in an e-mailed statement. “Mr. Baker now wants the amount publicized in an apparent effort to shift the focus away from his dealership as he continues to litigate this case with the families.”
Toyota issued the statement after the Los Angeles Times reported the settlement amount earlier today.
Acceleration Lawsuits
Toyota lost a bid on Dec. 10 in federal court in Santa Ana, California, to dismiss lawsuits claiming personal injuries or deaths were caused by incidents of sudden acceleration.
The automaker is accused in the lawsuits of failing to disclose or warn of a defect in its vehicles that could cause sudden acceleration. Toyota said in court filings that the plaintiffs didn’t offer specific allegations of an actual defect and that the company didn’t conceal anything.
Toyota faces about 400 lawsuits alleging lost vehicle value or injury or death from sudden acceleration.
Saylor, 45, his wife, their 13-year-old daughter and his brother-in-law died Aug. 28, 2009, when the Lexus they had on loan while his car was being serviced at the dealer crashed.
Toyota has recalled more than 8 million vehicles for repairs related to sudden unintended acceleration. In September 2009, 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.
Accelerator Stuck
According to the March 2 lawsuit filed by Saylor’s family, the Lexus accelerated on its own and reached speeds of more than 100 miles an hour when it came to the end of a freeway and broke through a fence. In a 911 emergency call that Saylor’s brother- in-law made from the car before the crash, he said that the car’s accelerator was stuck, according to the complaint.
Toyota said in today’s statement that a December 2009 San Diego County Sheriff’s Department report on the crash “determined that the cause was an incompatible all-weather floor mat from a Lexus SUV model that was installed incorrectly in the ES 350 sedan at the dealership.”
The report concluded that the accelerator pedal became trapped either in the grooves of mat, which is larger and thicker than the correct mat for the sedan, or underneath it, according to Toyota’s statement. The report also found that clips to hold the mat in place were not attached, which could have allowed it to move forward, Toyota said.
Willis said that he disagreed with the report’s conclusions, which he said were only preliminary, and that a subsequent investigation indicated that the accident may have been caused by an electronic problem with the vehicle.
Toyota American depositary receipts, which represent two ordinary shares, fell 2 cents to $77.67 at 3:40 p.m. in New York Stock Exchange composite trading.
The case is John Saylor v. Toyota Motor Corp., 37-2010- 00086718, California Superior Court, San Diego County.
