A wrongful-death lawsuit has been filed against Toyota, seeking damages for the young son of a man killed when a 2015 Toyota Yaris allegedly sped out of control on a California highway and struck the vehicle he was riding in on New Year’s Eve.
The horrific crash occurred when a 51-year-old woman traveling east on I-10 in San Bernardino County in a rented 2015 Toyota Yaris accelerated to nearly 100 mph, exited at the Vineyard Avenue ramp, and crashed into a Toyota Solara, killing four people.
The driver of the Yaris, which she had rented for a family road trip to Las Vegas, also lost her 7-year-old grandson, who was riding with her at the time. The driver and two other passengers in the Yaris – a 16-year-old boy and a 12-year-old girl – were also injured.
The driver claims the rented car kept accelerating beyond her control and she was powerless to stop it or even slow it down. The California Highway Patrol hasn’t released its final report of the crash, but has said that there were no signs that drugs or alcohol were a factor.
The driver’s claims of sudden unintended acceleration in the Toyota prompted an investigation by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), which hasn’t concluded its probe of the incident.
The lawsuit was filed for the son of Matthew Pusateri, 29, of Mission Viejo, who was one of the passengers in the Solara. The crash also claimed the lives of Monica Flores, 37, of Arcadia, Anthony Flores, 30, of Hemet, and Jeffrey Willey, 29, of Huntington Beach.
The crash reignited concerns that Toyota’s acceleration problems could be lingering, years after the Japanese automaker agreed to pay $1 billion to settle a class-action lawsuit related to sudden unintended acceleration crashes.
Like those complaints, the Yaris lawsuit alleges the vehicle was defective and unsafe for drivers because it was capable of accelerating without the input of the driver and cannot be stopped by applying the brakes, including the emergency brake.
Toyota has maintained that the sudden-unintended-acceleration incidents are the result of driver error, floor mat interference with the gas pedal, and sticking throttle assemblies. Plaintiffs’ lawyers, however, have successfully demonstrated that the unexpected acceleration stems from an electronic glitch.
Sources:
