More troubles for Toyota.
Already facing a raft of lawsuits stemming out of its problems with runaway vehicles, Toyota has now been sued by seven insurance companies.
The insurers, which include such major names as Fireman’s Fund and Ameriprise, want to recover money they’ve had to pay out to clients involved in 14 accidents they claim resulted from sudden acceleration defects. In all, the seven want to be reimbursed for damages exceeding $230,000.
They cite data from 725 crashes allegedly caused by runaway Toyota vehicles — and contend the maker should have equipped those vehicles with brake override systems that would have made it easier to halt a product that experienced a problem with sudden acceleration.
A report in the Los Angeles Times, on Monday, cited language in the lawsuit that claims, “certain of Toyota’s cars and trucks have a defect that causes sudden uncontrolled acceleration to speeds of up to 100 mph or more.”
A Toyota spokesperson, however, contended that the suit “was completely unfounded and has no basis.”
The action by the 7 insurers – which also include American Automobile Insurance Co., National Surety Corp., IDS Property Casualty Insurance, Motorists Mutual Insurance, and American Hardware Mutual Insurance – is the latest in a potentially devastating series of legal actions targeting Toyota.
The maker has been targeted by 100s of suits citing not only potential safety defects but the losses owners of Toyota products claim they have suffered in terms of future resale values. Most of the lawsuits have been consolidated into a single action now moving through the courts in Southern California.
Toyota has struggled, so far without success, to get the courts to toss out the lawsuits. But the maker recently agreed to settle one of the most embarrassing legal actions it faced.
It involved an August 2009 fiery crash that cost the lives of a California Highway Patrol Officer and three members of his family. Clearly linked to a loose carpet that jammed the accelerator pedal of a borrowed Lexus, Toyota agreed to pay surviving family members $10 million. Meanwhile, a separate lawsuit has yet to be resolved against the dealership that loaned the police officer the vehicle.
Following that crash, Toyota announced the first of two recalls for so-called sudden acceleration. It has since added recalls for a variety of other safety-related issues – in total impacting 11 million vehicles during 2010 alone. Most were recalled in the U.S., a major reason why the country saw the largest number of vehicle recalls, last year, since 2004.
The ongoing safety issues – and the extensive media coverage they have generated – has had a significant impact on Toyota sales. The maker posted yet another decline for December, the third month in a row in which it was the only major maker to report a downturn.