Texas man files wrongful death lawsuit against Toyota over fatal accident caused by malfunctioning accelerator
A Texas man is among those suing Toyota over an accident caused by the malfunctioning gas pedal that has been the subject of a recent recall.
Michael Harris has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Toyota alleging that a malfunctioning gas pedal in his wife’s 2009 Corolla caused her fatal car accident.
The victim was wife and mother Trina Harris who was killed when her car sped through a stop sign and smashed into a concrete wall. At the time of the accident, Harris was driving a 2009 Corolla, one of the vehicles that has been included in Toyota’s massive recall due to mechanical problems with accelerators.
Listed as defendants in the wrongful death lawsuit are Toyota, the manufacturer of the gas pedal and the local Toyota dealership from which Trina Harris leased her car.
For more on Harris’s wrongful death lawsuit against Toyota, see this article.
To find out if your Toyota is among the more than 2 million vehicles that have been recalled, visit www.toyota.com/recall/. There the car company lists all of the makes and models included in both of the recent recalls.
As Toyota explains on its website, there are actually two different recalls currently underway. The first is referred to as “floor mat entrapment,” where the car’s floor mat interferes with the gas pedal, causing it to get stuck in the wide-open position. The second is referred to simply as “pedal” and involves a mechanical failure that causes the gas pedal to get stuck in a partially depressed position or to be slow to return to the idle position.
If you experience sudden unintended acceleration in your vehicle, there are steps you can take to help avoid an accident. Consumer Reports presents this 5-step process for safely bringing a runaway car to a stop:
- Brake firmly – do not pump the brakes.
- Shift into neutral.
- Steer to a safe location and come to a complete stop.
- Turn off the engine with the transmission still in neutral.
- Last, shift into park.
For more information on sudden unintended acceleration, see Consumer Report's Unintended Acceleration Guide.
