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Toyota Announces Halt in Sales of Several Models Due to Unintended Acceleration Issues

An embattled Toyota has announced that it will for the time being, stop building and selling several of its models in North America. The announcement is linked to the company’s continuing troubles with unintended acceleration involving several of its vehicles. There have been several reports of accidents involving runaway Toyota vehicles that accelerated to uncontrollable speeds without any input from the driver.

Last August, one such accident involving a runaway Toyota car grabbed international headlines, and forced the company’s president to issue a public apology. California Highway Patrol Office Mark Saylor was driving a Lexus on a loan from a local El Cajon dealership.  He was driving with his wife, 13-year-old daughter and his wife’s brother. The car accelerated to speeds of more than 120mph.  It finally crashed through an embankment, exploding into flames, and killing all four occupants.

Toyota blamed the accident on all-weather floor mats that were incompatible with the Lexus. It has issued two recalls totaling more than 4 million vehicles since the tragedy in San Diego. However, neither the recalls nor Toyota’s insistence that incompatible floor mats were to blame for the unintended acceleration episodes, has comforted Toyota owners. Several consumers have come forward to report instances of unintended acceleration even when there were no floor mats fitted in the models.

The Electronic Throttle Control System on several of these vehicles has been blamed for the acceleration. Toyota is also facing class action lawsuits around the country from consumers who claim they have been in accidents or have been injured because of these acceleration problems.

A beleaguered Toyota has now announced that it will temporarily stop the manufacture and sale of several of its models. The models include

• Camry
• Corolla
• Avalon
• Matrix
• Tundra
• Highlander
• Sequoia
• RAV4

Californian auto accident lawyers find it an unusual move for the company, but Toyota says that it is necessary to stop manufacturing the cars until a solution to the unintended acceleration can be developed. The automaker says that the move will restore consumer’s confidence in Toyota and the safety of its cars. Till as recently as a few months ago, Toyota’s reputation as a maker of safe family cars for the North American market was without blemish. However, the unintended acceleration issue and the seemingly clueless frustration with which the automaker has attempted to find out the cause of the problem, has left the company’s reputation and credibility damaged.

If Toyota hopes that this new move will restore conference in its vehicles, it could find itself wrong. Millions of Americans own the vehicles that have now been put in a state of freeze. The company’s delay in getting to the root of the problem and developing solutions, have likely caused these Toyota owners severe anxiety and distress. These people have no choice but to continue to use their Toyota vehicles in the knowledge that there are still largely unknown problems in their vehicles that could endanger their safety.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of motor vehicle defects. 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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