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Toyota settles suit over high-profile crash in U.S.

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They should have gone the whole way and not settled.

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balmaster- "Car accidents of the toyota were all caused by hitting the gas pedal instead of the brake. Toyota need not take any responsibility for car accidents" This is from the prepared testimony of Akio Toyoda, president of Toyota Motor Corporation, released ahead of his appearance before the US Congressional committee on Oversight and Government Reform on 24 February 2010 "...I would like to discuss what caused the recall issues we are facing now. Toyota has, for the past few years, been expanding its business rapidly. Quite frankly, I fear the pace at which we have grown may have been too quick. I would like to point out here that Toyota's priority has traditionally been the following: First; Safety, Second; Quality, and Third; Volume. These priorities became confused, and we were not able to stop, think, and make improvements as much as we were able to before, and our basic stance to listen to customers' voices to make better products has weakened somewhat. We pursued growth over the speed at which we were able to develop our people and our organization, and we should sincerely be mindful of that. I regret that this has resulted in the safety issues described in the recalls we face today, and I am deeply sorry for any accidents that Toyota drivers have experienced."

So do you still think it is caused by people hitting the gas pedal instead of the brake?

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Car accidents of the toyota were all caused by hitting the gas pedal instead of the brake. Toyota need not take any responsibility for car accidents.To begin with, this intense bashing iscaused by the goverment of usa, because, in that year car sales of toyota in the usa suparss any car maker of the usa.

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Anpanman_NZ- "You obviously have very, very limited knowledge about the operation of a motor vehicle if you think you need to put an accelerator pedal into a certain position to make the car go 120mph" Are you kidding me? Really? Of course you have to put an accelerator pedal in a certain position to make the car go 120mph. So following your logic if one depresses the accelerator at all, the car "will continue to accelerate"? Then you go on to say, "It seems these days it is easier to blame the technology rather than admit fault for depressing the wrong pedal or fitting not genuine mats which foul the accelerator pedal." Read this from Toyota.com and tell me "technology" is not to blame, "What is the problem that could cause accelerators to stick and led to the recall? The issue involves a friction device in the pedal designed to provide the proper “feel” by adding resistance and making the pedal steady and stable.

This friction device includes a “shoe” that rubs against an adjoining surface during normal pedal operation. Due to the materials used, wear and environmental conditions, these surfaces may, over time, begin to stick and release instead of operating smoothly. In some cases, friction could increase to a point that the pedal is slow to return to the idle position or, in rare cases, the pedal sticks, leaving the throttle partially open." Sure seems like Toyota thinks technology is to blame.

"...most people that experience problems are elderly, or heading that way." Let's blame the elderly!!!! They're easy targets!!!!

"(it is mostly people like you that experience these problems because they simply do not have the knowledge to figure their way out of a fairly simply resolvable situation)" Wow! Why the personal attack? First me, then the elderly. Didn't your Mommy tell you you were a good boy enough when you were a child?

Klein2- "Zing!" Who are you Tommy DeVito from Goodfellas? Klein2 you amuse me. "...then you are asking Toyota to pay for pure FATE!" Of course they should. Companies do it all the time. They're called ACCIDENTS. Toyota didn't intend for this to happen. But when you design a faulty part (friction lever) you are liable for the accidents that it causes. It's a cost of doing business. My issue is that Toyota didn't issue the recall until the problem became national headlines and had the US government breathing down their neck. From the NHTSA website. "On February 16, NHTSA launched an investigation into the timeliness and scope of the three recent Toyota recalls and required the automaker to turn over documents and explanations related to its adherence to U.S. auto safety laws. NHTSA officials are continuing to review Toyota's statements and more than 120,000 pages of Toyota documents to determine whether the company has complied with all its legal obligations. “By failing to report known safety problems as it is required to do under the law, Toyota put consumers at risk,” said Secretary LaHood. “I am pleased that Toyota has accepted responsibility for violating its legal obligations to report any defects promptly. We are continuing to investigate whether the company has lived up to all its disclosure obligations.” POW!

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The Prius hybrid, which boasts 60/51 mpg (city/hwy), should be a formidable menace to the major competitions, whose mind is the tar, oil sand. One day, when Toyota was ready to roll out this amazing model, I chanced on an article where a reporter claimed the 50 mpg was just a hype.

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"That's because it's a random event, baby! It's like predicting where lightning will strike next."

Exactly. So who pays for lightning strikes? Do you expect Toyota to pay for those too? Or shall we sue Thor and Zeus? ZING!

If you know what RANDOM means, then you are asking Toyota to pay for pure FATE! But I guess that is the gist of your argument isn't it? Why are posting? Go sue somebody. Sounds like you have to whole scam figured out.

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It was actually the insurance companies that tipped of the ntsa that there was an issue based on claim rates for specific vehicles. The issue can be spun anyway anybody wants but the facts are clear: there is an unintended acceleration issue.

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dcm81672 - there is no conspiracy, it would have just been the floor mat. You obviously have very, very limited knowledge about the operation of a motor vehicle if you think you need to put an accelerator pedal into a certain position to make the car go 120mph (it is mostly people like you that experience these problems because they simply do not have the knowledge to figure their way out of a fairly simply resolvable situation). The accelerator is depressed to accelerate and if it is not eased off (like in this situation were it seems an incorrect floor mat has been fitted), the vehicle will continue to accelerate.

In the past there were not enough electronics in vehicles for people to have the option to blame the car, and drivers didn't rely on all these systems and had the basic know-how to get out of a situation like a sticky accelerator or a mat over the pedal etc. (unintended acceleration has been around a long time).

If you look at the facts, ALL of the unintended acceleration complaints relate to automatic vehicles (surprising when the same fly-by-wire accelerator systems are in both manual and automatic cars), and most people that experience problems are elderly, or heading that way. It seems these days it is easier to blame the technology rather than admit fault for depressing the wrong pedal or fitting not genuine mats which foul the accelerator pedal.

In 2008 and 2009 VW had more unintended acceleration complaints per 100,000 vehicles sold in USA (as reported by the NHTSA) than Toyota did. If you are looking for a possible conspiracy you are looking in the wrong direction...

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That's because it's a random event, baby! It's like predicting where lightning will strike next. It's definitely something! Toyota admitted it and did something about it, finally, after people died and it made the national news. Actually Toyota's bank account is taking care of it.

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Let's look at this logically. NOBODY, not NTSA, NASA, or the actual designers and builders of the Toyota device have been able to show what causes sudden acceleration. It could be anything. It could be nothing.

It's a legal matter baby, and Toyota's lawyers are handling it.

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Let's look at this logically. In order for the pedal to get stuck in the floormat in a position that makes the car go 120 mph, then CHP Officer Saylor would have had to push it to that position in the first place. I find it highly unlikely that he would have been intentionally driving double the speed limit with his wife, daughter and mother-in-law in the car when it got "stuck" in the floormat. I know! Maybe one of the most highly trained and experienced drivers in the world hit the accelerator instead of the brake... AND didn't think of putting it in neutral? Not likely! Toyota basically admitted it's not really the floormats that caused this tragedy when they issued the recall of millions of cars for "sticky accelerator pedals" and repaired the problem with a new friction lever. Toyota KNOWS they are guilty and will continue to settle out of court so we will never find out exactly what they knew and why they didn't try to fix it sooner. Check out this website to see that they knew about a problem with the accelerator since 2002. http://www.safetyresearch.net/toyota-sudden-unintended-acceleration/toyota-sudden-acceleration-timeline/

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