LEAGUE CITY, Texas — A $100 million wrongful-death lawsuit claims a Clear Lake City couple died after their Toyota Camry’s throttle malfunctioned, causing the car to accelerate and crash into a utility pole.
The lawsuit comes as Toyota conducts a recall of 6 million automobiles in the U.S. to repair sticking throttles. It is the largest recall in the automaker’s history and among the top 10 of all time.
Janice H. Berg bought a 2009 Camry in December 2008 from Star Toyota in League City, according to a lawsuit filed Monday in Galveston’s 122nd District Court by Wayne D. Collins on behalf of Berg’s son, Kenneth E. Hall.
On Feb. 24, Berg, 79, was driving south on El Camino Real in Clear Lake City with her husband, Kenneth D. Berg Sr., 85, the lawsuit claims.
Suddenly, the car malfunctioned and accelerated at a high rate of speed, the lawsuit claims. Janice Berg lost control at an intersection and crashed into a utility pole.
The cause of the crash was inconclusive, Collins said of a police report.
‘It Didn’t Make Sense’
"Some of the eyewitnesses who saw it accelerate ... said it didn’t make sense they were going that fast," Collins said.
First responders used hydraulic tools to pull Janice Burg from the car, and medical records state she was in severe pain upon arrival at Ben Taub General Hospital, the lawsuit claims.
The Burgs died that night, claims the lawsuit, which names Star Toyota, Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., CTS Corp. and Gulf States Toyota.
Attempts to reach Star Toyota and Toyota Motor Sales for comment were unsuccessful.
Some months later, Hall received in his mother’s mail a letter from Toyota to inform her that the gas pedal of her Camry could get stuck on the all-weather floor mats, causing a dangerous situation, the lawsuit claims.
Toyota attempted to cover up the dangerous defects in many of its vehicles, first blaming driver inattentiveness in April 2009, then the floor mats months later, the lawsuit claims.
The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration criticized Toyota in November for making misleading claims related to the floor mat recall, the lawsuit claims.
Aware Of Defects In ’07?
Toyota’s vehicle recall to repair or replace the accelerator pedal was the largest in the company’s history, the lawsuit claims.
"Subsequently, it has been allegedly discovered that Toyota was aware of problems with gas pedal sensors, causing sudden vehicle acceleration in many of its vehicles as early as March 2007, the lawsuit claims.
The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration announced Tuesday it would use its statutory authority to obtain documents from Toyota to learn if the automaker made three of its recent recalls in a timely manner.
Federal law requires all automobile manufacturers to within five days notify the administration that a safety defect exists, the administration stated.
6 Million U.S. Cars Recalled
The administration is requiring Toyota to provide documents showing when and how it learned of the defects affecting about 6 million vehicles in the United States.
The administration also is probing whether Toyota discovered the problems before or after the automobiles were built.
The three recalls involve Toyota and Lexus vehicles, including the 2007 through 2010 Camry for gas pedal entrapment by floor mats and sticky gas pedals, the administration states.
The administration is probing whether Toyota has covered all affected models to ensure the automaker, "didn’t miss any problems," according to Tuesday’s statement.
If the auto safety agency finds a manufacturer violated its statutory obligations, the manufacturer could be liable for a maximum $16.4 million in civil penalties, the administration states.
Collins’ lawsuit seeks a sum not less than $100 million plus interest and attorney and other fees.
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