NEW AUTOMOBILE, First Toyota Unintended-Acceleration Lawsuit Dismissed

The first legal case against Toyota Motor Corp. over unintended acceleration was dismissed from a federal court in California under a judge’s ruling that the lawsuit should have been filed in a state court in Utah, where the plaintiffs’ accident occurred. The dismissal won’t preclude the suit from being tried in a federal court, as the plaintiffs’ attorney said a new complaint will be drafted to place the suit in the proper jurisdiction. The now-dismissed case was scheduled to be tried in 2013.
Toyota was stung by a series of events beginning in 2009 in which many drivers claimed their Toyota vehicle accelerated despite their attempts to brake. The company recalled millions of vehicles in the United States and in other regions to be sure floormats were properly installed and later to correct a potentially sticky accelerator pedal, although in some of the instances, evidence from onboard data recorders showed drivers were pressing the accelerator pedal rather than the brake pedal. The events led Toyota to fit a brake override system on all vehicles to forestall the potential for simultaneously applying the accelerator and the brake; most other manufacturers now employ similar systems.

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