Multiple Stories - Toyota Woes Include Prius

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601082&sid=aCItcaaF9wns

"Toyota Faces New Class-Action Suits Over Acceleration (Update2) Share Business ExchangeTwitterFacebook| Email | Print | A A A
By Margaret Cronin Fisk

Feb. 1 (Bloomberg) -- Toyota Motor Corp., the world’s largest automaker, faces at least 12 lawsuits seeking class- action status in the U.S. and Canada connected to the company’s recalls over sudden acceleration of its vehicles. A suit was filed on behalf of all Canadian owners, operators, lessors and passengers of Toyota vehicles with an electronic throttle system called ETCS-i, Rochon Genova LLP, a Toronto law firm, said today in a statement. Consumers in Texas sued on Jan. 29 on behalf of all owners of Toyota and Lexus models equipped with the throttle system in that state. “Toyota has long known about the defect with their throttle control and has done too little, too late to correct it,†attorney Robert Hilliard, who represents Sylvia and Albert Pena in the Texas suit in federal court in Corpus Christi, said in a statement. The suits follow multiple recalls by Toyota and a Jan. 26 decision by the company to stop U.S. production and sales of eight models to fix defective accelerator pedals. Plaintiffs in the Texas and Canadian suits claim that the pedals and floor mats cited in earlier recalls aren’t the primary reason for the sudden-acceleration episodes."

We on the board know that the brake issue is not limited to 2010 - we've been discussing the issue on the Gen II for years. Sawing off the bottom of our accelerator pedals and stealing our floor mats (with no compensation) was a smokescreen.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/08/31/cbsnews_investigates/main5278273.shtml?FORM=ZZNR

"Lawsuit: Toyota Buried Accident Evidence
Class Action Suit Charges Company Concealed, Destroyed Evidence in Accident Cases
Toyota Accused of Hiding Evidence
(CBS) By CBS News Investigative Unit Contributor Myron Levin

Automaker Toyota has been charged in a class action suit with illegally hiding evidence from plaintiffs in cases stemming from highway deaths and injuries across the U.S. The suit filed in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles echoes the explosive claims of former Toyota attorney Dimitrios P. Biller, who in a separate racketeering case accused his former employer of concealing and destroying evidence that should have been provided to plaintiffs."

If true, this makes it difficult to claim Toyota isn't involved in a cover-up, and the problem most likely extends to other models (such as the Prius Gen II and Gen III). Note there are a couple of articles this morning talking about slapping Toyota under the RICO act, placing Toyota in the same category as Organized Crime.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/asiapcf/02/04/japan.prius.complaints/index.html

"Without issuing a recall of its iconic Prius hybrid vehicles, Toyota said Thursday a software glitch is to blame for braking problems in the 2010 model...

...Toyota officials described the problem as a "disconnect" in the vehicle's complex anti-lock brake system (ABS) that causes less than a one-second lag. With the delay, a vehicle going 60 mph will have traveled nearly another 90 feet before the brakes begin to take hold."

I hope they take responsibility for the same issue on the Gen II, because it is most certainly there as well.