Autoblog

Toyota settles first wrongful death suit related to unintended acceleration

Jeffrey N. Ross — Mon, 21 Jan 2013 09:57:00 EST

Filed under: Government/Legal, Safety, Lexus, Toyota

Toyota's sales seem to have rebounded from the unintended acceleration issues from 2009 and 2010, but the automaker is far from done dealing with this situation. Following a settlement worth up to $1.4 billion for economic loss to affected vehicle owners, Toyota has settled rather than going to trial in a wrongful death lawsuit stemming from an accident in Utah in 2010 that left two passengers dead. This isn't the first case in which Toyota has settled, but it was the first among a consolidated group of cases being held in Santa Ana, CA.

According to The Detroit News, this case was scheduled to take place next month, and it was for a November 2010 incident in which Paul Van Alfen and Charlene James Lloyd were killed in a Camry when, based on findings by the Utah Highway Patrol, the accelerator got stuck causing the car to speed out of control and hit a wall; the terms of the settlement were not announced.

The article says that while Toyota will settle on some cases, it doesn't plan on settling on all of them as it still wants to be able to "defend [its] product at trial." This will probably be the case in suits claiming that software for the drive-by-wire accelerator was the cause of an accident in a Toyota or Lexus vehicle. The question of whether or not the electronic accelerator played any role in this problem has been a hot-button topic since the beginning. Toyota has issued recalls in the past to attempt to prevent unintended acceleration caused by trapped floor mats and faulty accelerator pedals, but it also says driver error was to blame in some instances.

Toyota settles first wrongful death suit related to unintended acceleration originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 21 Jan 2013 09:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Police cams capture woman's 119-mph stuck accelerator run [w/video]

Jeffrey N. Ross — Mon, 27 Aug 2012 16:57:00 EST

Filed under: Safety, Videos, Crossover

Police car dashboard cameras have provided plenty of footage over the years of criminals attempting to evade police or horrific car accidents, but Lauri Ulvestad wasn't the former and some inspired - if not lucky - driving prevented the latter. Ulvestad, 47, of Ames, Iowa, experienced a stuck accelerator while driving her 2011 Kia Sorento along Interstate 35 in Missouri, and while she was able to call police to help clear traffic in front of her, it was her miraculous driving that ultimately ended the day with not so much as a scratch on her crossover.

The dash cam footage of a Missouri State Highway Patrol officer shows Ulvestad at speeds of well over 100 miles per hour swerving around cars and even using the median to avoid a collision. Ulvestad's Sorento was equipped with a keyless, pushbutton starter that she was unable to turn off, and according to the phone recording with a 911 operator, she was also unable to get the car to decelerate or shift the vehicle into neutral. After the 59-mile ordeal that lasted for about 35 minutes, police finally told her to try pulling back on the accelerator while hitting the brakes. This worked, and her Sorento came to a stop on the shoulder, leading some to suggest that accelerator entrapment (i.e. a floor mat wedged under the gas pedal) was to blame rather than a computer-related unintended acceleration. It has been reported that Kia is investigating what caused the problem, but it is just amazing that nobody was injured during the course of this event.

For vehicles with pushbutton starters, most can still be shut off by pressing and holding the starter button for a few seconds. This combined with shifting to neutral and applying the parking/emergency brake can usually help bring an out-of-control vehicle safely to a stop.

Scroll down to see the dash cam footage of Ulvestad's frightening incident.

Continue reading Police cams capture woman's 119-mph stuck accelerator run [w/video]

Police cams capture woman's 119-mph stuck accelerator run [w/video] originally appeared on Autoblog on Mon, 27 Aug 2012 16:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Report: 27 car auction attendees injured when Volvo plows through crowd

Jeremy Korzeniewski — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 08:01:00 EST

Filed under: Etc., Safety

It seems we just can't keep unintended acceleration incidents out of the news these days. The latest report of such an occurrence comes from Ellijay, Georgia, where a 1995 Volvo 960 (nope, not a Toyota this time) barreled through the crowd of bidders at Blue Ridge Auto Auction at about 8:15 in the evening on Tuesday.

According to Gilmer County sheriff's investigators, 27 of the 100 or so people in the crowded building were injured, six of which were airlifted to nearby hospitals. At least one patient reportedly remains in critical condition and three were treated for their injuries and released.

The driver of the Volvo was uninjured in the accident, and no charges have thus far been filed. Reports Gilmer County Sheriff Stacy Nicholson, "The preliminary report we're getting from people on the scene is the gas pedal did hang up. It did bring them through the structure part of the building."

The final cause of the accident is still under investigation, and police are saying it will likely be a few more days to determine whether or not the accelerator was stuck open. Click here for a video from Atlanta CBS affiliate WGCL.

[Source: WCGL Atlanta]

Report: 27 car auction attendees injured when Volvo plows through crowd originally appeared on Autoblog on Thu, 18 Feb 2010 08:01:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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