Toyota to pay billion-dollar settlement for U.S. owners

Toyota to pay billion-dollar settlement for U.S. owners


Toyota has agreed to pay more than US$ 1 billion as settlement money to all those who filed a lawsuit against them regarding the unintended-acceleration recalls for their cars in the United States.

Toyota says the money is going to be used to settle ‘hundreds’ of U.S. civil cases involving infuriated owners who claim their cars’ resale value plummeted due to the well-publicised unintended-acceleration issue which led to the Japanese automaker recalling 14 million vehicles worldwide since 2009.

The money is, however, not going to be used to settle cases which have led to injury or death due to unintended acceleration. There will be separate trials for those cases.

The US$ 1.1 billion will be used to cover different things. About US$ 250 million will be used to pay Americans who sold their Toyota or turned in leased vehicles between September 2009 to December 2010. Also, warranty will be provided for certain components of the car and about 3.2 million cars will be retrofitted with new brake-override system which ensures the car will stop, even if the accelerator pedal is depressed. Part of the settlement will also be used to fund new car-safety technologies and driver-education programmes, whatever that means.

In other news Toyota says they expect sales to go up for 2013 thanks to increasing U.S. demand, where Japanese cars will become cheaper due to the falling Yen. Of course, none of this applies to the UAE, KSA or any GCC market, where no one gets compensated for recalls, and the only way car prices go is up.

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  1. “..Of course, none of this applies to the UAE, KSA or any GCC market, where no one gets compensated for recalls, and the only way car prices go is up”

    +1

  2. and we are still waiting here for unified car buying contract to ensure more rights for buyers …. I will never forget the lesson I learnt from buying Avalon 2 years ago, no Toyota anymore and let the resale value go to hell, I will never ever consider it in any future purchases, you may not believe it, but my previous experience with Hyundai was much better (except crowded service centers).

  3. Qoute of the day…

    “resale value go to hell”,..

    PS what happed with the Avalon?

    • I sold the avalon after 14 months of ownership, it was long story that you may find in the forum archives, I faced vibration and pulling problem, the dealership took the car many times, once for a week and then called and said the car has nothing worng “what was the car doing for a week” if there is nothing wrong? anyway after trying all alignment shops in UAE and after changing the tires without a solution ….. I gave up and sold the damn thing

  4. I agree “resale value, go to hell!”..

    In our hard times, its better off to treat a car like an investment.. Buy something you like and keep it for a very long time until you feel the running costs are starting to rise.. Even then it will still feel like a keeper if you chose something you really like..

    • Totally agree, especially in this country, most of the cars are not treated well, left parked in the sun for long time (which is very harmful thing for the car BTW), another thing that kills the car is the load of AC on the engine and here we keep it running at least 8-9 months a year, so after 4-5 years, no car will be good value or in good condition, eg. I have two cousins here, one bought 2007 camry glx 2007 at around 85K, the other got Lumina LS basic options for 82K, the guy with the Lumina once was driving and forgot to turn traction on, he slid and got very nasty accident, the insurance company was about to scrap the car but decided to repair it in the last moment, so it got very strong accident, last year, he got a job in abu dhabi and was using it for sharjah-abu dhabi commute, 2 weeks ago the transmission died, after that he sold it for 18k without transmission, the other cousin sold his camry for 36K also 2 weeks ago, frankly, i dont see that big resale difference after all that, without the accident and with good transmission and less mileage he would have sold it for 25k or more

  5. Toyota is a dead company.

    The cars are hard plastic. No features with prices sky-high. Small engine. No power. In the US, the Land Cruiser is more expensive than the Mercedes-Benz S 550.

    I dont get why these people buy Toyotas.

    Any car not “Made in China” is just as, if not more, reliable as a Toyota.

  6. Toyota is ok, as long as its for free.

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