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Toyota wins unintended-acceleration case

Fri, 01 Apr 2011

Toyota secured a legal victory on Friday against the landslide of unintended-acceleration claims that have dogged the company for more than a year.

A jury in New York found in favor of Toyota, rejecting claims of a driver who said a floor mat was the cause of his 2005 crash in a Scion tC. The jury took 45 minutes to reach the verdict after a weeklong trial in federal court.

A key witness also backed off assertions that the car’s electronic throttle control was at fault.

The suit was filed in 2008 by Amir Sitafalwalla, a Long Island doctor.

Toyota has recalled millions of vehicles over unintended-acceleration claims and other defects in the last year, denting its formerly pristine image of quality.

Toyota pointed to this case as a key win as it was seen as representative of the claims against the automaker.

“Toyota is pleased that the jury found no merit to this unintended-acceleration claim, refused to accept testimony about possible pedal entrapment by the Scion’s floor mat, and rejected arguments that Toyota was liable for the absence of a brake-override system in the vehicle,” the company said in a statement.

Meanwhile, Albert Zafonte Jr., a lawyer for Sitafalwalla, told Bloomberg News that he was “disappointed in the verdict [and] thought there was sufficient evidence for the jury to find otherwise.”




By Greg Migliore