As I understand it, the Toyota models affected by the sudden acceleration issue are among the most popular car models in the USA. These models include the Toyota Camry and the Corolla…so there must be millions of vehicles (potentially) affected.
My question: how big could the potentail lawsuits be? Would they be enough to bankrupt Toyota?
There are a small number of lawsuits againts Toyota now (based upon fatal accidents)…but these would be dwarfed if every Toyota owner joined up.
Could this be a multi-billion $ issue?
IMHO, Toyota needn’t worry.
I think it is pretty clear that they were aware of the problem for a while but continued to blame someone else (the floor mats or the accelerator manufacturer) and not themselves. Even now, I don’t think they really know why they accelerate out of control and I thought that was the point Transportation Secretary LaHood was making when he told Toyota owners not to drive their cars . . . but then he pussed out. In a wrongful death suit, they would lose unless they decide to fight by attrition. Yet despite this, people still love Toyota. For me it’s not the defect that kills you that was the problem, but the fact that the company either lied or had no clue about the cause of the defect for months but every poll shows Toyota owners as fiercely loyal.
And how many people could actually sue? I believe 8 people died (correct me if I’m wrong) so even at settling for $100 million each for a wrongful death suit, that would be only 1.5 months of profits and as shown above, this fiasco will not result in reduced revenue.