Ten Toyota owners in Britain affected by sticking accelerator pedals have contacted a lawyer specialising in personal injury claims.
Ciaran McCabe, of law firm Moore Blatch, told Kyodo News the injuries ranged in severity with the most serious being a head injury sustained in an accident.
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His firm has been looking for disgruntled Toyota customers following the news earlier this week that the automaker will recall 180,865 vehicles in Britain as part of a worldwide recall of around 4.5m Toyota cars following revelations that a very small number of vehicles have suffered sticking accelerator pedals.
McCabe said the cases represented negligence under Britain’s Consumer Protection Act. He said although the company was trying to redress the problem with a recall, it was too late.
He is now gathering details of the accidents from clients and, if Toyota Motor does not wish to agree to an out-of-court settlement, the company will be sued in a civil court.
London’s The Times newspaper claimed Toyota was ”evasive” over the fault initially and it also slammed the ”failure of nerve and leadership” of Toyota president Akio Toyoda who has made only a limited number of public appearances – though he was subsequently scheduled to front a 12:00GMT press conference in Nagoya on Friday.
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By GlobalDataA Thursday Times editorial called on the company to communicate with its customers and explain the problem as clearly as possible. It said the lack of information caused anxiety which could lead to further accidents, as well as cause a perception that Toyota was deliberately covering something up. Early that morning a top Toyota GB PR took part in BBC radio programmes covering the recall.
Newspapers and TV shows in Britain reported several cases of sticking gas pedals, and many of those interviewed said they were not sure what the problem was at the time of the incident.
Toyota (GB) has been pn a publicity offensive since Thursday in order to try and address customers’ concern. The company said the potential fault was very rare – with only 26 incidents reported in Europe.
Toyota is advising owners to keep on driving their cars but if any stiffness starts to occur in the gas pedal they should stop immediately. The metal inserts which will be used to ease friction in the pedals and stop the problem are due to arrive in Britain next week.
