Over the past six months, a lot of attention has been focused on the Toyota recalls for braking and acceleration problems with their vehicles. Toyota's manufacturing and design defect woes go back much further than last fall, however. Even though the company climbed its way to the top of the auto industry based on its reputation for building safe vehicles, the company has a startling history of not only defective automobiles, but of hiding those defects from its customers.
Toyota Truck Steering Recall
In 2005, Toyota issued a recall of nearly 1 million pick-up trucks and SUVs sold in the US for defective steering relay rods. The automaker had received reports that the rods were fracturing without warning, which then caused drivers to lose complete control over steering the vehicles. The recall affected 978,000 pick-up trucks, 4-Runners and T-100 trucks from model years 1989 to 1998.
What is interesting about the steering rod recall, however, is the fact that Toyota issued the same recall for pick-up trucks sold in Japan the previous year in 2004. At the time, Toyota claimed that the recall only affected vehicles sold in Japan and not the US because the different driving conditions in Japan were making the rods more prone to failure. The automaker also claimed that it had not received any complaints from US customers prior to the 2004 Japanese recall.
Later investigation, however, proved otherwise. Toyota first claimed that it only had received 11 complaints of steering rod failure in Japan prior to issuing the recall. Reports showed that the company actually had received more than 80 complaints from Japanese drivers before the 2004 recall.
Investigation also uncovered that Toyota had first learned of the problems with the steering rods in its trucks in 1988 - a full 16 years before the Japanese recall and 17 years before the US recall. The company also had received a minimum of 40 complaints from US consumers about failing steering rods before Toyota issued the Japanese recall.
The US investigation into the current Toyota recalls is revealing a similar fact pattern. In April, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) levied a record-breaking $16.4 million fine against the automaker for failing to notify the federal agency of the gas pedal defect within five business days of the company learning of the defect, as required under US law. An investigation into the company has shown that Toyota knew of the gas pedal defect at least as early as September 2009. At that time, Toyota issued a recall of its vehicles in more than 30 European countries due to the gas pedals. The company, however, did not issue the same recall for US vehicles until more than four months later in late January of 2010.
Defective Automobiles and Products Liability Claims
Those who make and sell products for public use - whether it is an automobile, prescription medication, baby toy or any other product - have a duty to make sure that their products are safe for their intended use. If the product is defective and causes harm, then the injured person has the right to take legal action against those responsible for making the product available to the public.
Legally, this is known as a products liability claim and it may be brought against anyone in the "chain of distribution," which includes the product's manufacturer, distributor, designer and seller. For example, a person who is harmed by a defective Toyota vehicle may have a legal claim against Toyota, the dealership where the vehicle was purchased and the parts manufacturer.
Products liability claims are brought under state law, thus the types of claims that may be available and what is required to prove a claim varies state-to-state. Generally, products liability claims are strict liability claims. This means that the manufacturer or other party did not have to act negligently in order to be held legally liable for any harm caused by their product. The injured person only has to prove that the product was defective and because of the defect, he or she was harmed.
A product may be defective in one of three ways:
- Design: there was a defect in the product at the designing stage before it was ever produced
- Manufacturing: the defect did not occur until the manufacturing stage of the product
- Marketing: the product was designed and produced without defect, but the manufacturer did not include sufficient directions for the product's use and/or failed to warn consumers of all of the known dangers, possible side-effects or other risks associated with using the product
Products liability litigation can be very complex and may include more than one type of defect claim. Even in strict liability cases, it can be difficult for those injured by dangerous products to prove their claim and recover the compensation they are owed for their injured. An attorney experienced in handling products liability claims can help those injured by automobile defects or other dangerous products build a solid claim for recovery.
For more information on pursuing a claim related to a dangerous or defective product, contact an experienced products liability attorney today.
