Toyota Lawyers prepare for Class Action
April 8 2010, 9:49 amGoal Group understands that Toyota closed its doors on manufacturing plants in France and Britain while lawyers work on merging multiple class action lawsuits against the company for out-of-control speeding cars. The ailing company initially remarked the closings were due to low sales but then commented it was to regroup in preparation to begin building a new hybrid car.
Recent reports reveal a Toyota memo from 2007 urging dealers to not install more than one mat in the cars for fear of obstruction of the gas pedal. The biggest problem with the memo wasn’t the memo itself, it was that almost nobody listened.
It was at this time that Toyota was aggressively pursuing a strategy of getting ahead GM as the world’s largest car manufacturer. Whatever the strategy, putting people at risk by ignoring basic safety problems, and then advertising your company on its reliability and safety, is a mistake of gargantuan proportion.
Now, 58 reported deaths in the U.S. are to blame for the faulty mat and pedal and that is in the US alone. The merging of the Class Actions currently facing the company will be lobbied at a special judicial panel. Toyota Motor Corp could face up to $10 billion in damages.
More than 8 million vehicles have been recalled by the company to avoid further accidents. “One of the reasons has to do with revising our sales plans due to the negative effects of the recalls,” Paul Nolasco, a Toyota spokesman, stated.
“The other reason is that we are getting ready to build a new hybrid vehicle in our U.K. plant. In that case it is very customary to close a plant for a few days, or even a few weeks.”
