Local woman’s lawsuit targets another Toyota model

By Steve Kanigher

Wednesday, June 30, 2010 | 2 a.m.

Add the 2002 RAV4 to the list of Toyotas that have a deadly runaway acceleration problem, a Las Vegas lawsuit says.

The lawsuit, filed in Clark County District Court in May but transferred this month to U.S. District Court, alleges that Carolina Salvador was driving that model SUV eastbound on Warm Springs Road on Dec. 21, 2008, when she attempted a left turn onto Rainbow Boulevard.

“Carolina applied the brakes, but the Toyota did not slow down and in fact accelerated without warning despite application of the brakes,” the lawsuit alleges. The vehicle slammed into a power pole on Rainbow.

The afternoon crash injured Salvador and her 82-year-old mother Jovita Salvador, both of whom were taken to University Medical Center. Jovita Salvador died of her injuries on Jan. 27, 2009.

Drugs or alcohol were not involved in the accident and the driver wasn’t issued a citation, according to Metro Police. The accident report stated that Carolina Salvador told police at the hospital that her brakes didn’t work, but Metro drew no conclusions as to what caused the crash.

Plaintiffs’ attorney Jasper Ward IV of Louisville, Ky., declined comment on the case. But the lawsuit alleges that Toyota should have known at the time the vehicle was purchased from a local dealership in 2002 that the RAV4 was designed and built “with the dangerous defect of unintended, sudden acceleration.”

The lawsuit cites the recalls of newer-model Toyotas due to sticking accelerator pedals or problematic driver’s-side floor mats. The 2002 RAV4 was not included in those recalls.

“According to information disclosed in a congressional investigation, approximately 70 percent of the unintended, sudden acceleration events in Toyota’s customer call database involve vehicles that are not subject to the pedal or floor mat recalls,” the lawsuit notes.

A database maintained by National Public Radio of unintended acceleration complaints made to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration shows that there were 27 such complaints about the 2002 RAV4, more than any other model year for that vehicle. Yet the only RAV4 models that were recalled by Toyota due to acceleration concerns were certain 2009 and 2010 vehicles for sticking pedal issues.

Carolina Salvador, an adult whose age was not disclosed in the lawsuit or in the police report, claimed she was unaware of the unintended acceleration issue until the recalls, which began nine months after her accident.

The family accuses Toyota of doing nothing to correct the alleged problems despite thousands of consumer complaints and multiple federal investigations.

“Instead of being told the truth about the dangerous propensity of Toyota vehicles to suddenly accelerate, Carolina was given assurances that her vehicle was safe and defect free ... Toyota failed to include back-up safety systems in its cars and trucks, including the Toyota driven by Carolina, that would prevent unintended acceleration ... Toyota omitted the back-up safety systems in order to save money and increase profits,” the lawsuit states.

Las Vegas attorney Greg Marsh, who represents Toyota in the lawsuit, did not return repeated calls seeking comment. But two of the defendants he represents, Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America and Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky, filed a motion to be dismissed from the case.

A key argument both made is that they cannot be properly sued in this case because they do not make vehicles or component parts in Nevada and do not solicit business in the state.

A separate motion filed by Marsh on behalf of those companies and a third defendant, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., seeks to dismiss all of the case except for allegations of negligence and product liability. The motion states that the other allegations, including fraud, violation of a state consumer protection act and breach of contract, “fail to state a claim on which relief can be granted and should be dismissed.”

There is a possibility this lawsuit will wind up in the hands of U.S. District Judge James Selna in Santa Ana, Calif. The U.S. Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation in April decided to consolidate cases that had been filed across the country against Toyota alleging unintended acceleration. As of late May, roughly 230 cases had been shipped to Selna’s court.

The Sun reported this month on a 2004 federal investigation of Toyota Camrys that key members of Congress, traffic safety experts and consumer advocates say was botched. One of the accidents reviewed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration was the January 2004 crash in downtown Las Vegas that killed George Yago Jr. and his wife Maureen, who were in their 2002 Camry.

The agency echoed Toyota by stating that it found nothing wrong with the cars, which included what were then new electronic throttle control systems. But critics said the agency didn’t have the right experts to conduct a thorough investigation, a problem they say continues today.

NHTSA disclosed in May that as many as 89 deaths and 57 injuries may be attributed to unintended acceleration in Toyotas dating to 2000. The agency also said it had received more than 6,200 complaints alleging acceleration problems in Toyotas.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced in March that the National Academy of Sciences will examine unintended acceleration throughout the auto industry. NASA engineers have also been tapped to study Toyota’s acceleration issues.