USA Today has reported that Toyota has been forced to halt the sale of and recall 17,000 2010 Lexus HS 250h hybrid vehicles because of a potentially deadly fuel leakage problem after a crash. This fuel leak risk is known in the automotive industry as the risk of post collision fuel fed fire (PCFFF).
Toyota and Lexus have admitted that the Lexus HS 250h hybrid vehicles affected by the recall do not comply with FMVSS 301 — the federal minimum safety standard for fuel system containment. The vehicles leaked an unacceptable amount of fluid in spit testing (in which the vehicle is rotated 360 degrees) following crash testing. Post collision fuel fed fires are particularly dangerous for vehicle occupants. No one should be burned alive after surviving a collision.
This new fuel leak recall is just the latest in a series of Toyota and Lexus recalls that have affected more than 10 million vehicles worldwide. An earlier USA Today report confirmed that Toyota’s dirty tricks are putting drivers and passengers at risk and that Toyota finally issued the recalls only after highly publicized crashes in which innocent drivers and passengers were injured or killed.
For more than a decade, when Toyota has been given an opportunity to do the right thing and actually try to fix the deadly sudden acceleration problem, Toyota has repeatedly chosen to cover up the defect with lie after lie after lie.
Toyota – which also manufactures Lexus vehicles – has continuously cut corners in an effort to grow its market share and increase its profits. Toyota continues to choose profits over safety. Toyota earns dollars (or in this case, Yen) at the expense of families and human life. What’s wrong with Toyota?
Brett Emison is currently a partner at Langdon & Emison, a firm dedicated to helping injured victims across the country from their primary office near Kansas City. Mainly focusing on catastrophic injury and death cases as well as complex mass tort and dangerous drug cases, Mr. Emison often deals with automotive defects, automobile crashes, railroad crossing accidents (train accidents), trucking accidents, dangerous and defective drugs, defective medical devices.
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