Toyota Settles on Acceleration Issues – $1.1 Billion

On Wednesday, December 26th, 2012 during a press conference, Toyota announced that it will set aside $1.1 Billion in a fund to settle with various lawsuits stemming from the unintended acceleration of certain vehicles made in 2009-2010. The enormous backlash of the accelerator issue did end up costing Toyota sales and knocked it’s reputation at the time. Toyota has since corrected the issue and as annoucned this week, will set aside a large amount of money for compensation of the owners affected. Some families even lost loved ones – a few deaths were reported due to the accelerator being stuck.

Toyota plans to install brake override systems in certain affected vehicles, and reimburse owners who will have any sort of economic loss due to the issues with their cars. Toyota estimates that roughly 16 million vehicles will be affected by the settlement, and that those vehicles will be given 3 to 10 year warranties for the parts that were related to the acceleration issues.

Toyota did not admit to any guilt, because it believes the issue could not have been predicted and wasn’t due to any negligence on the company’s part. The latest move will certainly reassure it’s customers that Toyota will make things right, and will effectively bring an end to the long saga related to the recall. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in the USA fined Toyota over $60 million for not disclosing the internal accelerator problem sooner. Although no statements have been made from Canadian officials, it is advised that Toronto Used Cars customers, and anyone looking for a used Toyota should check to make sure their next used car has been cleared of the recall.

After this final decision, and once all of the promises are fulfilled, Toyota and it’s customers can move forward. Toyota states that after this it can focus on their value: building great cars at great prices.