Toyota, the Automotive Big Tobacco

As we told you over the past week, what started as a small bush fire tends to be transformed into a scorching blaze. Todd Tracy, the Dallas attorney who this week re-opened 16 suits against Japanese manufacturer Toyota is stepping up the pressure and urges the world's no. 1 carmaker to "tell the truth."

Although yet unclear on how deep this story goes, Tracy claims that Toyota, who was the best selling brand under the US Car Allowance Rebate System, will become a real threat if the safety issued they are accused to have hidden turn out to be true.

"The American legal system and vehicle owners need to rise up to 'get Toyota to tell the truth' about its hidden crash safety data," Tracy said in a release. "Their cover-up of serious safety problems makes a 'chump' out of the American taxpayer."

The attorney went even further and asked for the Congress to step in and launch an investigation. Tracy claims in the end hundreds of lawsuits against Toyota will be reopened across the country.

"This pattern of lying to the courts and federal auto safety regulators has taken a tragic toll on the principles of the American legal system and on countless unsuspecting victims in vehicle accidents. It reminds me of the federal testimony by Big Tobacco."

To remind you, Toyota are being accused by one of their former attorneys, Dimitrios Biller, of concealing relevant rollover crash data in cases involving accidents. The Japanese are accused of fraud and racketeering in withholding materials from the judicial system, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the American public.