Is Toyota just getting awfully good at discrediting consumer complaints and reports of unintended acceleration?
They certainly did a great job of discrediting the San Diego Prius incident and the statements of driver James Sikes after his Prius accelerated out of control on a San Diego freeway.
Now, it's time for them to discredit the driver of the New York Prius that failed to brake and crashed into a stone wall across the street in Harrison, N.Y. on March 9.
Toyota and federal authorities began investigating both cars in the incidents. Now, according to computer data from the New York Prius incident, the research is yielding that the driver never pressed the brakes.
You see, every Prius is equipped with a "black box". The black box records the state of the car at the moment of impact.
The police captain had initially checked to see if the problem had anything to do with floor mats entrapping the pedal. Although the Prius was not on the official recall list, there had been concerns about the pedal becoming stuck under floor mats. As a result, Toyota had asked Prius owners to remove floor mats.
Toyota has much to lose if the accident was a result of product defect. Indeed, New York injury lawyers would find much criticism over such defects; as a vehicle defect could raise some harsh products liability for the automaker. Under these legal theories, the automaker could be held liable for the injuries caused by a defect in the design or manufacturing of their product.
The New York findings are not conclusive and the driver is not facing much scrutiny, except perhaps for the possible driver error. Unfortunately for James Sikes of San Diego runaway Prius fame, he is not being given a free pass by the media and critics just yet.
Related Resources
- New York Runaway Toyota Prius a Case of Driver Error? (ABC News)
- Runaway Prius in New York: Unintended Acceleration (FindLaw's Injured)
- Runaway Prius in NYC, No Injury (The New York Personal Injury Law Blog)
- Find NY Injury Lawyers (Findlaw)
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