Noriko Uno ..... and others....Innocent Deaths in Toyota Vehicles?

There appears no information posted on the evidence presented at Toyota's Noriko Uno trial...it would seem no one is monitoring the court proceedings, which are expected to take 2 MONTHS!

What is disappointing is Toyota's insistence that everything is 'operator error' and that there seem to be serious questions about Toyota's electronics that remain unanswered and uncorrected.

When my BRAND NEW TOYOTA turned into a LEMON....

this article was found:

FROM: Toyota Table of Contents 

WASHINGTON, March 23 (UPI) -- Toyota warned U.S. dealerships in 2002 that Camry owners complained of throttle surges and recommended adjusting the computer, documents indicted. [sic]

A lawyer with the non-profit Center for Auto Safety in Washington said the technical service bulletin discusses electronics issues -- not mechanical issues raised in the massive recall -- and how the condition was corrected, CNN reported Tuesday.

"If you look at this document, it says electronics," attorney Clarence Ditlow said. "It says the fix is reprogrammed in the computer. It doesn't say anything about floor mats."

....repair bulletin proves the manufacturer misled the public about the causes of sudden acceleration.

FROM: Documents Contradict Toyota

The article cites a panel of independent experts that now doubt Toyota’s explanation that floor mats or sticky accelerator pedals explain the surge in complaints. “Instead, they believe precisely what Toyota has for many years steadfastly denied: that the problem is rooted in electronics,” the article states.

The dealer pleads: “… Engine revs stick at 6000 rpm without any reason. This issue occurs without any warning and at random cases. … (there were) two big car accidents in which the drivers miraculously escaped injuries. … the vehicle accelerated in an uncontrolled manner … more than 5 times … the Accelerator Sensor Assembly was replaced. … This issue could cost lives!!”

In another communication, a driver reported a Tundra zooming to 80 miles per hour, uncommanded, with ineffective brakes. When the truck was fixed, the technician noted, “short (circuit), insulation defective,” and replaced the gas pedal sensor assembly. The same document lists 547 pedal position electronic sensor assemblies that were replaced to fix speed control malfunctions that had been attributed to a mechanical “sticky pedal.”
 

Japan engineers also noted or investigated many varied electronics-related causes of UA and speed control issues. They include short circuits in the pedal position sensor, cruise control, poor wiring connectors, electromagnetic interference (EMI), and voltage irregularities. Numerous times throughout the documents, the electronic Engine Computer Unit (ECU) is mentioned as a possible cause for vehicle behavior that they could not understand.

FROM: Toyota settles wrongful death lawsuit

Toyota Motor Corp. has settled what was to be the first in a group of hundreds of pending wrongful death and injury lawsuits involving sudden, unintended acceleration by Toyota vehicles, a company spokesman said Thursday.

Toyota reached the agreement in the case brought by the family of Paul Van Alfen and Charlene Jones Lloyd, spokeswoman Celeste Migliore said. They were killed when their Toyota Camry slammed into a wall in Utah in 2010.


This is Noriko Uno's car.....

FROM: The Truth About Cars

Opening Statements Begin in Toyota Unintended Acceleration Case

Attorneys for the family of a woman killed in a 2009 crash involving a Toyota Camry say a brake override system should have been installed in the car

By Jonathan Lloyd

| Thursday, Aug 8, 2013

The family of Noriko Uno say the sudden acceleration of her 2006 Toyota Camry led her car to fly out of control, ultimately ended in her death. Toyota says there was no defect in her vehicle, and driver error is to blame. Kathy Vara reports from the Westlake District for the NBC4 News at 5 p.m. on Aug. 8, 2013.

 

Opening statements began Thursday in the wrongful-death lawsuit filed by family members of a Southern California woman killed in a 2009 crash that occurred amid widespread concerns regarding unintended acceleration of Toyota vehicles.

 

Attorneys for the plaintiff indicated they plan to focus on a brake override system that they claim would have prevented the crash involving 66-year-old Noriko Uno, who was driving a 2006 Toyota Camry that slammed into a tree after she was involved in a collision with another driver.

 

Toyota's attorneys called the crash a "simple case" of driver error and "pedal misapplication." They claimed Uno might have intended to step on the brake, but was actually activating the gas pedal.

 

Similar cases involving Toyota drivers are pending across the country. The case in a downtown Los Angeles courtroom is considered the first of the "bellwether" cases in state courts, which are selected by a judge to help predict potential outcomes regarding similar claims.

 

There are more than 80 similar cases filed in state courts, according to the Associated Press. The Uno trial is expected to last about two months.

 

During opening statements Thursday, plaintiff attorney Garo Mardirossian talked about Uno and her family -- son Jeffrey and husband Peter. Witnesses, friends and family will be among the more than 40 people who will testify, he said, adding that he will ask the family be compensated $20 million.

 

"I think the defendants agree, this was a very tragic loss, but you can't let your sympathy play a role in this case," Mardirossian said. "You can consider the law and consider the evidence. We'll give you to the tools to fix this harm, the compensate this loss."

 

Toyota issued a statement Thursday in which the company said the car was already equipped with a "state-of-the-art" braking system.

 

"Our sympathies go out to the family and friends of Noriko Uno," the company said in the statement.

"Toyota is committed to providing its customers with safe and reliable vehicles, including the 2006 Camry driven by Mrs. Uno, which was equipped with a state-of-the-art braking system."

Toyota attorney Vincent Galvin delivered his opening statement Thursday afternoon. He said the defense's case will take Uno's "overall behavior" into account.

 

"This vehicle could have been stopped if someone wanted to stop it," said Toyota attorney Vincent Galvin. "There was nothing wrong with the vehicle."

 

Uno's 2006 Toyota Camry was involved in a collision with another driver at an Upland intersection before it slammed into a tree on a residential street in August 2009 -- a crash that the family's attorney claims Uno could not prevent because she was unable to stop the vehicle, which was not equipped with a brake-override system. Toyota Motor Corp. issued a recall for 2007 Camrys to install the system, designed to override the accelerator if the gas and brake pedals are pressed at the same time.

 

Most vehicles are now equipped with some type of system that gives the brake priority if the gas and brakes pedals are operated simultaneously.

 

Toyota claims the system probably would not have prevented the Uno crash. The company cites witnesses who claim they never saw brake lights activate, raising questions over whether the driver was accidentally applying the gas pedal instead of the brake pedal

 

The lawsuit claims Uno was running errands in Upload when she swerved to avoid the oncoming vehicle. Mardirossian said the 86-year-old driver of the other vehicle also is a defendant in the case, but that Toyota played a "major role."

 

"Under these circumstances, the vehicle was a runaway," he said Thursday, describing Uno as a cautious driver who avoided freeways.

 

But defense attorneys claimed Uno encountered an "unexpected event" and did not react properly.

They presented a map of the street on which the crash occurred, laying out the series of events -- attorney said she drove into oncoming traffic, struck at least two poles and crossed a median -- that led to the collision with a pepper tree.

 

"There has to be some explanation for this odd and unusual behavior," Galvin said. "The evidence will be that this is a simple case of driver's error.

 

"This is a case of pedal misapplication. It's been around for a long time. It's not a fabrication -- it actually happens. It's when someone, for whatever reason, intends to step on one pedal and steps on the opposite pedal.

 

The crash occurred during a series of high-profile complaints of unintended acceleration involving Toyota vehicles that led to recalls.

 

In 2009 and 2010, Toyota recalled nearly 8 million vehicles because of "sticking" accelerator pedals and a design flaw involving the floor mat that caused it to trap the gas pedal. Concerns about unintended acceleration prompted a 10-month study conducted by the U.S. Department of Transportation and NASA that found no electronic flaws "capable of producing the large throttle openings required to create dangerous high-speed unintended acceleration incidents."

 

A federal court judge in Santa Ana approved the $1.6 billion settlement -- an estimate provided by plaintiff's lawyers -- earlier this year to resolve a class-action lawsuit over the acceleration issues.

 

None of those cases went to trial, but the automaker won a 2011 case filed by a New York doctor who cited unintended acceleration in a crash involving his 2005 Scion TC. That lawsuit was not consolidated into the federal cases.

In 2010, Toyota settled with the family of California Highway Patrol officer, his wife, their teen daughter and brother-in-law -- all were killed when a Lexus ES350 loaned by a San Diego dealership crashed in Santee. CHP investigators said they received a 911 report that the vehicle's accelerator was stuck before the August 2009 crash, which occurred on the same day as the collision involving Uno.


[Toyota settled the case for $10 MILLION with a GAG Order, blaming the dealership. The dealership got the GAG order removed to publicize the facts involved.]

Two months after the Santee crash, Toyota recalled vehicles because of the floor mat entrapment issue.

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Toyota-Camry-Unintended-Acceleration-Lawsuit-Trial-218852741.html


Mardirossian said Uno was a cautious driver and neither floor mats nor driver error were to blame. He said witnesses heard the Camry engine racing and saw brake lights going on and off. Pulling the handbrake had "zero effect," Mardirossian said.

"Imagine her strapped into her Toyota Camry driving 100 mph knowing the next move would be fatal," he said. "She saved many lives by veering off into that center median knowing that death was near."

That same day – Aug. 28, 2009 – off-duty California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Saylor and three family members were killed on a suburban San Diego freeway when their 2009 Lexus ES 350 reached speeds of more than 120 mph, struck a sport utility vehicle, launched off an embankment, rolled several times and burst into flames. A 911 call captured Saylor's brother-in-law telling the others to pray before the car crashed.

Toyota Sudden Acceleration Case Set To Begin In Calif. Following The Death Of Noriko Uno

By GREG RISLING 07/21/13

Report: Toyota 'secretive' about black box data

Mar 5th 2010 11:59 AM EST

BY Steven J. Ewing

Due to the ongoing NHTSA investigation and several lawsuits involving Toyota, the automaker's in-car "black box" data is coming into the spotlight. However, the Associated Press has conducted an investigation of its own, finding that Toyota has, for years, blocked access to event data recorder (EDR) information, and that the automaker has been inconsistent in revealing exactly what these devices do and do not record.

In this investigation, AP found that Toyota has frequently refused to provide information crucial to crash victims and survivors, and that in some lawsuits, the automaker has routinely provided printouts with key information missing. What's more (this much we knew already), AP reports that Toyota's EDRs use proprietary software (meaning it can only be read by Toyota), and that until just recently, there was only one computer in the entire United States that contained the software needed to rear EDR data.

In a statement to AP, Toyota outlined exactly what information its EDRs collect, including vehicle speed, gear shift position, angle of the driver's seat, whether the seat belt was used, and the accelerator and brake pedals' angles. In the coming months, we'd expect that Toyota starts to make more of this information readily available, especially with its committed cooperation to ongoing safety investigations.

[Source: The Associated Press via Yahoo | Image: Justin Sullivan/Getty]

http://m.autoblog.com/2010/03/05/report-toyota-secretive-about-black-box-data/

 

Too many questions remain to simply accept Toyota's explanation.