Toyota and Justice Department said to reach $1.2 billion settlement in criminal case

[unhappycamper]

http://www.latimes.com/business/autos/la-fi-hy-autos-toyota-justice-department-settlement-20140318,0,7690305.story



Mark Saylor, his wife Cleofe Saylor, their 13-year-old daughter Mahala Saylor and Cleofe's brother Chris Lastrella died when the Saylors' 2009 Lexus ES 350 crashed in August 2009 in Santee, Calif.

Toyota and Justice Department said to reach $1.2 billion settlement in criminal case
By David Undercoffler
March 18, 2014, 10:39 p.m.

Toyota Motor Co. and the Justice Department have agreed on a $1.2-billion settlement to close a criminal probe into whether the automaker handled cases of sudden acceleration properly, according to media reports.

The settlement -- which could be announced as early as Wednesday -- would end a four-year federal criminal investigation into sudden acceleration complaints dating back to 2009. The issue forced Toyota to recall millions of vehicles and pay out tens of millions of dollars in fines and civil settlements. Hundreds of civil lawsuits remain unresolved.

“While the $1-billion price tag represents a costly resolution, Toyota can put this issue behind it to fully focus on current and future challenges in a highly competitive market,” said Karl Brauer, senior analyst at Kelley Blue Book.

The potential settlement could allow Toyota to avoid criminal charges provided it meets conditions imposed by the court. An independent monitor will be appointed to make sure Toyota complies with the agreement. The potential settlement was first reported by the Wall Street Journal, citing anonymous sources.

[burfman]

1. Betsy Benjaminson - a translator fed up with Toyota's cover-up - leaked what Toyota was hiding

It was not just 'sticky floor mats'

Betsy Benjaminson - a translator fed up with Toyota's cover-up - leaked what Toyota was hiding

From http://japanfocus.org/-David-McNeill/3993


Internal memos showed managers and executives “withholding, omitting or misstating facts” as they sought to “hoodwink” lawmakers, courts and regulators, according to Benjaminson. The reason was not hard to understand, she concluded: Electronic problems are notoriously time-consuming and expensive to fix. “I saw the huge discrepancy between what the company was doing publicly and what was being done internally. And I realized something was very wrong.”

That epiphany triggered a profound decision: Benjaminson turned whistleblower. Ignoring legal warnings, she sent the incriminating memos to journalists, then to regulators and politicians. In March this year, after several years anonymously working for full disclosure, she went public. Her claims are shocking.

Toyota has continually made misleading statements about defects in its in-car electronics, which had caused the sudden-acceleration accidents across the world, she says. Thousands of complaints have reached Toyota and the U.S. government. The company’s engineers, quality-control managers, lawyers and executives know that the cars are defective but have stayed quiet, she says. As the accidents piled up, they blamed floor mats, sticky gas pedals and driver error — while Toyota’s PR department produced what she calls “make believe” for public consumption. “I felt the public was undoubtedly at risk; cars on the road were dangerous and inside the company they seemed to know it,” she says.