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California Accident Lawyers Follow Toyota Hearings

The mother of two of the victims in the tragic Toyota Lexus crash in Santee, San Diego has testified before Congress.  This accident and its aftermath has helped focus worldwide attention on the sudden and unintended acceleration problems in Toyota vehicles.

It was, as to be expected, it was a highly emotional testimony by Fe Lastrella, the Filipino American woman who lost four members of her family in the tragedy. The apologies by Toyota President were simply not enough. Fe Lastrella was the mother of Cleofe and Chris Lastrella. Until August 28^th 2009, this was an ordinary grandmother living in San Francisco. That day, however, the Lexus carrying her son, daughter, son in law Make Saylor ( a California highway patrolman), and granddaughter Mahala suddenly began to accelerate to high speeds. The car touched speeds of 120 mph before crashing and exploding into flames. All four occupants of the car were killed instantly.

Initially, investigators were at a loss to explain the crash, and why Saylor, a decorated police officer had failed to slow down.  Then, came a recording of the 911 call that Chris had made from the car just before it crashed. In it, he can be heard telling the 911 operator that the car had accelerated to high speeds, and they could do nothing to slow it down. A few seconds after the call, the car cashed.  At the hearing, Lastrella talked of her disbelief when she heard at first that three and then, all four members of her family had been killed.

The accident helped the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration verify and bring more attention to the problem of unexpected acceleration in Toyota vehicles. Complaints of unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles were being reported as far back as 2002. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigated the matter, but then decided that there was no evidence that there was a defect in the cars. They were not recalled. California personal injury lawyers were aware of the problem, but there was little media attention paid to it.

The San Diego accident changed all of that. it became clear that what Toyota had been denying all these years, was not only true, but it also very likely affected a large number of cars. Toyota acted quickly to contain the damages to its solid image of reliability. It announced a massive recall of more than 3 million cars. It insisted that the problem was caused by a defective floor mat that trapped the gas pedal. Then, incidents of acceleration leading to deaths and injuries began to pour in from around the country. In Texas and elsewhere, people whose cars accelerated to high speeds and crashed and families of victims killed in such crashes, came forward with their stories. Finally, they were being taken seriously by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which had been given the responsibility making sure that automobiles with defects are off the streets.

For Fe Lastrella, testifying before the world couldn’t have been easy, but hopefully her tragedy will lead to safer vehicles at Toyota, and justice for the victims of these crashes.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of product liability. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

The Reeves Law Group is not acting as legal counsel for any party in the matters discussed in this posting.

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