Toyota now faces 327 state, federal lawsuits

Source: AP

DETROIT (AP) -- Toyota Motor Corp. now faces more than 320 lawsuits in federal and state court related to its sudden acceleration problems.

In a report filed Friday with U.S. District Judge James Selna, attorneys for the plaintiffs and Toyota listed 228 federal cases and 99 related cases in state courts. A judicial panel consolidated the federal cases before Selna last month.

Selna's court is in Orange County, California, near Los Angeles and close to Toyota's U.S. headquarters. The next court date in the case is scheduled for May 13.

The lawsuits began appearing last fall as Toyota initiated the first of a series of recalls eventually involving about 8 million vehicles - including about 6 million in the U.S. - over acceleration problems in several models and brake issues with the popular Prius hybrid. Toyota said the acceleration problems were caused by faulty floor mats and sticky accelerator pedals. Some plaintiffs also claim that there is a defect with Toyota's electronic throttle control system, but Toyota denies that.

Read more: http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_TOYOTA_LAWSUITS?SITE=NEYOR&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

friends or foes.

:-(

Check out a comparable ford and compare it to the toyota and you'll see what I'm talking about.

Lets not be upset with each other as I'm just playing around, goofing off or being whatever you want to call me :hi: :-) I say this as I sit looking out my window at my neighbor working on his '04 corolla that only has 95 thousand miles on it. He's had to work on it more than I have both of our '98 fords, f150 and explorer. In fact I've not had to work on them at all and both have over 130 thousand miles on them. Sons '03 ranger has around a hundred thousand on it and yep you guessed it he has not had to work on it either.

:)

I knew the love of humans and vw beetles.

For a duty truck, Ford seems like a good choice, but what are their commute cars like?

(Full disclosure: I drive a Saab 93, it's a high mpg *and* high mph sedan, and I've put a lot of money into it, but that's a trade off I was willing to make.... before that I had a Hyundai Elantra (high mpg, low mph sedan) that I put 70,000 on without needing almost *any* work before I blew out the timing belt (and engine))

in fact the eco-tec engine they've just started using is turning in some good mileage, better than some hybrids, I believe. It's a direct injection turbo charged high compression engine that is or sounds like it is some kind of awesome engine. I think If you googled ford and eco-tec engine you would be able to get more info than I'd likely remember reading. I don't have any links sorry its too close to bed time for me to look up right now, sorry,

The cost in settling these suits will pale by comparison with negative effects of the on-going publicity. The risk for Toyota is that consumers perceptions towards the brand will be negatively effected.

Tim Mojonnier

for more information see:

http://www.philosophiesofbusiness.com/blog/2010/04/30/quality/an-out-of-control-toyota-at-jazz-fest