Two Toyota executives ordered to testify in Flint crash death

Posted: Mar 09, 2010
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Genesee County Circuit Judge Archie Hayman has ordered Toyota’s top two U.S. executives to appear for questioning before the attorneys for the family of Guadalupe Alberto. Alberto was killed in a car accident in April of 2008 whereby her Toyota Camry is said to have unintentionally surged in speed from 25 to 80 mph near her home in Flint. Toyota and one of its biggest suppliers, Denso, are being sued by representatives of the deceased’s family; the companies had allegedly been aware of the defect in the car’s electronic throttle control system, which the family claims caused the death.

Attorneys for Toyota had filed a motion to protect Yoshimi Inaba and Jim Lentz, chairman and CEO, and president and COO, respectively, of Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. from testifying in the case. Andrea Moody, an attorney for Toyota, argued before judge Hayman that attorneys could obtain the information that they sought from lower level employees.

Eric Snyder, an attorney representing the family, said that he needed to depose Inaba and Lentz because they were the public face of the company, after having testified before congressional committees. Hayman ordered the duo to appear for deposition, saying that “it certainly would appear that these gentlemen are well informed on the issues that are at the core of this case.”

- By: Stephen Calogera

Source: Free Press


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  • BobS37

    Drive them there in Mrs. Rhonda Smith's ES350.
    http://blogs.insideline.com/straightline/2010/0…

  • Bumblefoot

    So, it couldn't be the ECU then…..the thing that tells the transmition to shift into the gear you want….There has been talk about there being an electrical issue back when the floor mats were discussed. Toyota was happy that NHTSA bought into the cheep floor mat repair. I wonder if Titanic is 8 brush strokes too…..

  • BobS37

    No … It is the ECU and electronics of this vehicle causing the *sudden unintended acceleration* and in some cases the electronics are not responding to the driver shifting gears or turning off the vehicle. These Lexus ES350s speeding off to 100mph and the driver shifting the gear lever to N without the electronics responding is just further proof this entire issue is electronic and not a ‘sticky pedal’. While sticky pedals might be linked to a different version of ‘unintended acceleration’ and Toyota may have found an issue with the CTS manufactured pedals, Toyota is clearly using that recall (sticking a shim in a sticky pedal) to cover up the real issue of “sudden unintended acceleration” (which is electronic). The real issue does not trigger any fault in the system. Toyota is getting away with this because either A) You die B) You survive and you’re crazy because there is no evidence, so your floor mat must have just got stuck … the rest was a dream. New brake pads and that Toyota is good to go!

  • wwide4082

    Toyota and others knew they were having issues and attempted to hide it. All Car Companies should have came forward with a full disclosures of what car were dangerous. Instead of waiting for a huge media blitz and tons of public pressure. I never seen so many car companies GM – NISSAN – TOYOTA – HYUNDAI having recalls all at the same time. I had no idea my car was affected until I looked on http://www.carpedalrecall.com and found I had a bad Anti Lock control unit on my 2008 Pontiac G8 , my co workers Ford Truck had a recall also. So be careful