The verdict comes as no surprise to those who follow unintended acceleration lawsuits.
Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A. has won an unintended acceleration case where it was alleged that an unsecured driver’s side floor mat was the primary cause of the crash of Scion tC vehicle in August 2005.
After deliberating for approximately 45 minutes, a jury reached a defense verdict in favor of Toyota and against plaintiff Dr. Amir Sitafalwalla in U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of New York. The verdict comes as no surprise to people who follow unintended acceleration lawsuits at automakers. Most of them are dismissed – if they get to trial.
During the week-long trial, Dr. Sitafalwalla’s expert witness, Dr. Anthony Storace, retracted his assertion that the Electronic Throttle Control System in the Scion could also have been a cause of the accident based on his acknowledgment that he had no basis to support that claim.
“Toyota is pleased that the jury found no merit to this unintended acceleration claim, refused to accept testimony about possible pedal entrapment by the Scion’s floor mat, and rejected arguments that Toyota was liable for the absence of a brake override system in the vehicle,” Toyota said in a statement late Friday.
“Importantly, plaintiff’s expert could identify no electronic defect in the vehicle’s Electronic Throttle Control System (ETCS) and offered no scientific proof of any electrical or mechanical malfunction in the throttle control or braking systems of Dr. Sitafalwalla’s vehicle,” Toyota said.
“Toyota’s ETCS has been extensively tested, most recently in an exhaustive 10-month study by NHTSA and NASA, and has multiple fail-safe systems to shut off or reduce engine power in the unlikely event of system failure. We believe that this case sets an important benchmark for unintended acceleration litigation against Toyota across this country, as it clearly demonstrates a plaintiff’s inability to identify, let alone prove the existence of, an alleged electronic defect in Toyota vehicles that could cause unintended acceleration.”
