Woman wins ruling against Toyota
A Kerikeri woman had to put both feet on her brake pedal after her car accelerated to 100kmh by itself.
Carolyn Fox was driving her 2007 Toyota Blade G Hatch - purchased from Northland Toyota in Whangarei - on July 2, 2016 on Kerikeri Rd to the Bay of Islands Airport when the vehicle accelerated unexpectedly from 60kmh to 100km.
After considering her options, she applied both feet to the brake pedal and pushed down as hard as she could. Toyota disputes that there is a fault and maintains it was probably caused by an unsecured floor mat, but a disputes tribunal adjudicator has ruled in favour Fox.
The Motor Vehicles Disputes Tribunal decision resulted in Fox being awarded the purchase price and part of the mechanical warranty after two instances of the car accelerating unexpectedly.
The adjudicator’s report stated: ’’However although the nature of the fault remains unknown, having excluded driver error as the cause, I am satisfied that the unintended acceleration was caused by an undiagnosed fault with the vehicle.’’
Northland Toyota chief executive Bryce Woodward says Toyota NZ currently have the vehicle.
‘‘We are confident it is fault free. It is not currently available for sale.’’
When the car came to a stop she put the vehicle into neutral before switching the engine off. Fox restarted the car and continued through the Kerikeri Rd roundabout towards the airport. Upon exiting the roundabout the vehicle again accelerated unexpectedly, and she immediately put both feet on the brake and put the vehicle into neutral.
Fox returned the vehicle on August 3 2016, which Northland Toyota refused to accept. Before the tribunal hearing, Northland Toyota offered to refund the purchase price, which Fox declined.
‘‘It’s an independent legal ruling that there is something else wrong with the car, besides the possibility of driver error or the floor mat being the reason for the unintended acceleration,’’ Fox says.
‘‘The reason why I risked losing the case, was to have the ability to speak publicly with the backing of the court’s ruling, because Toyota were consistently minimising the cause of the unintended acceleration.’’
Fox says all drivers should be told to secure their floor mats and how to stop a car that’s accelerating unexpectedly.
‘‘Just put it into neutral, nothing else is going to safely stop the car.’’