Toyota Accused of Lying Over Floor Mat Recall

A new year, the same problem for Japanese manufacturer Toyota. After in 2010 the auto maker did the unthinkable and announced a 14 million vehicles recall (the largest in the history of the automotive world) over unintended acceleration issues, this week a new one, of considerable size (2.17 million cars) was announced.

Whereas last year the main culprits for the problem were considered to be an improperly designed floor mat, which could entrap the acceleration pedal, and an electronic fault (the latter dismissed as a cause by a NASA study), this year the object to be held accountable is the floor mat.

And this, says Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro, a firm which specializes in cases involving histleblowers, investors and consumers, is exactly the problem. The new recall, they say, should have been last year as well, because Toyota said in its own words it knew about the floor mat problem.

“This latest recall stands in sharp contrast to Toyota's repeated declarations that they know where the floor-mat problems existed, and they have already acted to correct them. This is obviously not the case, and this sort of revelation calls into question the veracity and credibility of the other claims the company has made regarding this issue,” the firm says in a statement.

“This latest recall also substantiates the economic loss claims detailed in our suit. If you ask an average consumer whether a Toyota is worth more or less today, in light of these serial recalls, I would venture to say that the majority will say.”