Toyota stuck accelerator followed by Prius bad brakes defect

Posted by Bruce Westbrook

February 4, 2010

Will Toyota’s defective product failures ever stop? First it was SUV rollover calamities. Then it was stuck accelerator pedal catastrophes. Now it’s bad brakes on Toyota’s Prius, the world’s top-selling gas-electric hybrid vehicle.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has begun investigating flaws in the 2010 Prius’ brakes, after its safety arm, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, fielded 124 complaints from consumers. Four of those complaints concerned brake-related accidents in the Japanese automaker’s hybrids.

It seems some Prius brakes fail to function properly when the vehicle travels over potholes, bumpy roads or surfaces which are slippery or uneven. That’s not good, especially when you consider how common such surfaces are on streets and highways. On them, a Prius’ braking might pause when the car shifts from its traditional hydraulic brakes to an electronic braking system.

So far there’s been no Toyota recall of the Prius, unlike with millions of Toyota and Lexus vehicles (made by Toyota) suspected of potentially fatal accelerators. These either got stuck on floor mats or wouldn’t work due to mechanical failure, sending cars careening into high-speed crashes.

But at least the DOT, the NHTSA and the Japanese government are on top of the Prius problem, which so far hasn’t claimed lives. The stuck gas pedals have.

Sadly, such damning results of manufacturer negligence weren’t enough for Toyota to issue a recall in the U.S. — at least not before pressure by the U.S. government. The automaker continued to let its vehicles roll, even though their defective accelerators were killing people.

If you are a Toyota owner and you’ve been injured by a defect in your vehicle, you don’t have to take it lying down — in a hospital bed or elsewhere. Instead, you can fight back with legal action against a manufacturer whose negligence and betrayal are reaching monstrous proportions.

Alert a defective products attorney or a car accident lawyer with Jim S. Adler & Associates, and let them battle for you in the legal arena. The Texas Hammer’s personal injury attorneys can send a clear message to Toyota that Americans deserve better than defective vehicles which kill innocent people.

Toyota has made many billions of dollars from American consumers over the years. We have a right to expect more in return than a shiny new car which could be a death trap.

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