Wrongful Death
Recall Deaths Mount In Light Of Toyota Accelerator Malfunctions
The Toyota recall is becoming a major story all over the news, around the world. The problem is a sticking accelerator pedal. This problem is causing the vehicles "gas" pedal to stay stuck in full acceleration, thus putting the car in an uncontrollable state.
The blame on the pedal at this point is friction. Toyota states the metals that rub together when the pedal is pressed are heating up and sticking, causing the vehicle to accelerate out of control.
Although the recall is one of the largest and major recalls in the history of the car industry, many other problems are starting to come to lights. First there is the government getting involved stating that Toyota knew about this potential problem early and essentially covered it up in hopes it would go away. Second, is the mounting wrongful death suits piling up because of the faulty accelerator pedal.
The cover up is inevitable. They clearly heard people complaining of this and to avoid a massive recall they hoped it wasn't as large a problem as they are seeing now. They had to know that if one car had they problem, they all had the problem. Toyota is known for quality product. A product that works, so why would they differ in their manufacturing among models? They wouldn't and therefore knew if this were to become a major recall they would be in serious trouble. Hindsight is always 20/20 but they clearly made a huge mistake here when it comes to their credibility and status.
The most important may become the mounting accelerator recall deaths. As more media coverage attacks this problem, people are starting to come forward claiming they too had their pedal stick resulting a fatal crash. Many people are coming forward in these accelerator deaths because they now have solid ground to stand on. One major case is of Bulent Ezal of Pismo Beach, CA.
Mr. Ezal and his wife enjoyed a nice dinner. Upon leaving they attempted to slow their car to look at the beautiful ocean sunset when their car accelerator became stuck. They carreened 100 feet into the ocean. His wife died from the accident. It has been stated that the police investigation found Mr. Ezal to have made a mistake thus resulting in a crash. Mr. Ezal adamantly claims his "foot was absolutley, positively on the brake."
Second is the CHP officer who was traveling with his wife, daughter and brother-in-law. Their rental Lexus accelerator pedal became stuck. Officer Mark Saylor was driving the vehicle when the pedal stuck and they began traveling over 100 mph down the freeway ending in a fiery crash in which nobody survived.
The end result here will be some major, ground breaking decision in the justice system. Some question to arise will be how many other accidents were supposed "mistakes"? If so, they suddenly all have a case? Mr. Saylor was clearly trained in evasive maneuvers and handling high speed decisions. He clearly could do nothing about this vehicle. If that is the case how many other wrongful deaths will come up? How do you defend that?
The accelerator deaths as well as the mounting accusations of a Toyota cover-up are sure to be "sticking" around for awhile
