Blameless Whiplash - Who Do You Claim From if the Car Lets You Down?

A lawsuit against Toyota Canada has highlighted a problem that many motorists will sympathise with. The majority of whiplash claims are made as the result of an accident involving two cars where usually one car will have rear-ended the other. Generally, these accidents are the result of driver error and the claimant will seek compensation from that driver. However, a new set of variables arises if the driver is not at fault at all, but the car itself is found to be the cause of the accident.

Karen Stekel is a motorist from Toronto who was involved in a crash in 2005. She says, “I don’t know how it happened. I put my foot on the accelerator and I flew. I went into the tree, the car was totalled and I was extracted on a backboard, with a neck-brace.” Karen’s injuries resulted in her being hospitalised and, although her friction burns and bruising have healed, she is in constant pain and suffers other complications. As a result of this, she and her husband, Maurice, are suing Toyota Canada for the sum of $1million. At first, this might seem excessive, but investigation into Karen’s crash has revealed further factors.

Maurice noticed problems with the car on the day he leased it, a year earlier. “As I drove off the lot, I turned the corner and then I noticed that the car seemed to hesitate and would lurch forward,” he said. Further enquiry into the case showed that Maurice had returned the car to Toyota on four separate occasions, complaining about the vehicle’s hesitation and there being problems with the accelerator. However, the story takes a further, more sinister, turn.

Toyota documents show that, in 2004, a growing number of dealerships were fending off complaints from customers who wanted their money back, citing the same problems as those that caused Karen’s accident. Toyota engineers and executives met and identified the problems as a potential threat to the franchise. In response, they tried to fix the accelerator and transmission problems with software upgrades. Although this was attempted on several occasions, Toyota documents also show that the attempts were unsuccessful. In Japan, chief executives of the company were told that various models of Toyota car carried the same “product issue.”

However, the company is currently trying to refute Karen’s claim, using the defence that the accident may have been down to driver error or the effects of painkillers she was taking at the time. Despite this stance, it has been widely reported that Toyota has begun a worldwide recall of certain types of car.

The other possibility is that Toyota recognises the possibility that, if Karen’s claim is successful, they could face unprecedented claims from customers around the world. If this is the case, the motor industry as a whole will have to start paying more attention to consumers. If successful, Karen’s litigation could add a whole new window of opportunity for dissatisfied customers and injured motorists to seek compensation directly from the manufacturers themselves.

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