Well if you think you’re having financial issues today think again, someone’s got you beat! Toyota Motor Corp has been ordered by an Oklahoma jury to pay millions to victims in reparations, due to an unintentional acceleration defect in some its Camry models, hit the jump for more!
An Oklahoma jury’s verdict is costing the Toyota Motor Corp. 3 million in compensation after the company’s first loss in an unintentional-acceleration case!
“The jury found the Camry’s electronic system was defective and Toyota acted with “reckless” disregard,” Graham Esdale, the attorney for the Plaintiffs, stated in an email.
Issues began after a 2005 Camry driven by then 76 year old, Jean Bookout, increased in speed and lost control, while exiting an Oklahoma highway in September 2007, stated her lawyer, Jere L. Beasley. “Bookout couldn’t stop the car and it crashed, injuring her and killing her passenger and friend, Barbara Schwarz, 70,” Beasley stated.
The Toyota company argued that there was no defect within their Camry models, yet the jury disregarded his defense stating that hundreds have filed claims against Toyota, due to their vehicles reckless and spontaneous speed increase.
Their defense attorney J. Randolph Bibb, argued that the driver Bookout had “made a mistake while operating her Camry”, after taking the wrong exit toward an unfamiliar road.
The ultimate issue lies within the new ETCS-i system placed in the Toyota Camry model states the plaintiff’s lawyers: “whereby the engine’s throttle is controlled electronically, not mechanically. Signals are sent from a sensor that detects how far the gas pedal is pressed to a computer module that opens and closes the throttle” AutoNews
