The National Highway Traffic Safety Administrations says that a software flaw didn’t cause the sudden acceleration accidents involving Toyota vehicles that have resulted in serious injuries and deaths. Instead, floor mat entanglement, sticky gas pedals, and human error appear to have been the main culprits.
The NHTSA issued its findings today following a 10-month study that involved the help of National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) engineers. At issue was the role electronic defects might have played in causing the Toyota vehicles to accelerate out of control.
No abnormalities were discovered in the over 280,000 liens of software code that were examined. Data recorders in the vehicles of those who said they experienced sudden acceleration while in a Toyota did not reveal evidence of mechanical error.
The question is, how will the government’s findings impact the outcome of the Toyota sudden acceleration lawsuits and wrongful death cases that are still pending? Toyota recalled millions of vehicles over the sudden unintended acceleration problem and the carmaker’s reputation, which was built on safety and reliability, has been damaged. With the findings from the NHTSA report now in, it is more important than ever that an auto products liability lawyer that knows how to build a solid injury case represents you. Regardless of whether or not electronic defects caused the sudden unintended acceleration of a Lexus or Toyota, there may still be other auto defects or safety issues that contributed to causing the collision.
According to Safety Research and Strategies Inc., between January 1, 1999 and January 5, 2011 there were 6496 Toyota sudden unintended acceleration incidents. 2483 of these resulted in traffic crashes. 1156 people were injured and 54 others died.
Our auto products liability lawyers represent clients injured in Toyota and Lexus vehicles involving sudden unintended acceleration and other safety issues.
