Are Tennessee Drivers at Risk of Uncontrolled-Acceleration Accidents Involving Toyota Vehicles?
As a Memphis personal injury lawyer, I have been following the recent recall of Toyota vehicles, as well as the controversy over the uncontrolled acceleration of several of its models, with great concern. Toyota is the largest automaker in the world, and thousands of Tennessee motorists drive these vehicles.
It does not appear that the massive recall of Toyota vehicles announced earlier this month completely addresses the problem of uncontrolled acceleration. A little background:
This month, Toyota announced it would recall 3.8 million of its vehicles from the US market because of floor mat installation issues that could contribute to uncontrolled acceleration. The floor mats may cause the accelerator to be jammed, leading to unintended acceleration. Such acceleration has already been blamed for the death of a family in California, when their Toyota Lexus accelerated without warning, and crashed. 911 calls from an occupant in the car suggest that the gas pedal was stuck, and the brakes had failed. Then came the recall, and even an apology for the four deaths from the president of Toyota Motor Co.
However, Tennessee residents who have experienced uncontrolled acceleration in their Toyota cars are not buying the floor mat story. An investigation by Channel 4 shows that there are several motorists in Tennessee who have complained that their Toyota pickups accelerated suddenly and without warning. Dover-resident Frank Visconi is one such victim whose 2007 Tacoma accelerated suddenly, and crashed.
The NHTSA had earlier investigated Toyota vehicles for any mechanical defects responsible for these sudden accelerations. It has investigated at least 102 cases involving Toyota vehicles, including the Tacoma, but ultimately ruled that it could find no mechanical defect. The agency seems to blame the problem squarely on the floor mats.
However, there have been instances in which Toyota vehicles without the floor mats, have also experienced an unintended acceleration. Product liability lawyers, who are investigating accidents involving Toyota vehicles, believe that Toyota's electronic throttle control system contributes to uncontrolled acceleration. That and not the floor mats, they believe, is the main cause for these incidents. Toyota continues to deny that there is any mechanical fault contributing to these accidents.
I hope the NHTSA will consider undertaking another investigation of the problem to rule out the possibility of a serious mechanical defect. Millions of cars owners around the country and thousands in Tennessee continue to be at risk from driving these cars.
James Ferrell is a Memphis personal injury lawyer representing injured victims of automobile accidents in Memphis and around the state of Tennessee.
