Toyota wins NY case over unintended acceleration

[Omaha Steve]

Source: AP

CENTRAL ISLIP, N.Y. (AP) - A federal jury found Friday that Toyota Motor Corp. isn't responsible for a 2005 crash that the driver blamed on the floor mat or the electronic throttle, in the first case to go to trial since automaker recalled millions of its vehicles.

After 45 minutes of deliberation, the jury found Toyota was not liable for product liability for the Scion's floor mat or for the absence of a system that allows the brake to override the accelerator when both are pressed.

The car's driver, 59-year-old Long Island physician Amir Sitafalwala, contended that defects in the electronic throttle system or the floor mats caused him to suddenly accelerate and crash into a tree. U.S. Magistrate Judge E. Thomas Boyle ruled out evidence about the car's electronics earlier this week.

Sitafalwala's 2008 lawsuit was the first to go to trial since Toyota recalled millions of vehicles beginning in 2009.

Read more: http://apnews.excite.com/article/20110402/D9MB6FP80.html

[Kurmudgeon]

1. It feels like the big mulltinational corporation is getting a free pass.

I guess if your Toyota kills you, too bad for your family and anyone else.

[Auntie Bush]

2. I'm lucky my Camry didn't kill me. I experienced SUA

I had stopped my car a little short of the garage to let passengers out. I then tried to move it up about 10 feet to park it correctly in front of the garage...but it suddenly accelerated and shot right through the garage doors in an explosion of glass and splintered boards and was only stopped by our tractor. It did $7,000 worth of damage to my car and & $7500 damage to my garage and property. My floor mat wasn't pushed under my gas pedal. You can't tell me there is nothing wrong with the electronics. Believe it or not...I still have that Camry and after about a year... I no longer worry about SUA. I suppose I'm ridiculous but I still love that car...a nice shiny, red, like new, 2007 Camry!

[Kurmudgeon]

3. You're a braver person than me, Auntie, you be careful! n/m