N.B. drivers join Toyota class-action lawsuit
Last Updated: Friday, February 5, 2010 | 10:16 AM AT
CBC News
A group of 30 New Brunswick Toyota owners is joining a class-action lawsuit against the troubled automaker.
There are approximately 600 people involved in the suit across Canada.
Tony Merchant, a lawyer with the Saskatchewan-based Merchant Law Group, said the lawsuit is connected with the recall on eight of Toyota's models for sticky gas pedals.
Merchant said the faulty accelerators are a high-tech problem of Toyota's own creation.
He said the problem is a result of Toyota's decision to remove an electronic back-up system in 2002.
He said he doesn't believe the mechanical fix they've issued for the recalls is going to solve the problem.
"This is not going to solve the problem so the vehicles still have risk, though modified risk and the vehicles also carry a cloud, which affects their value," Merchant said.
Merchant said this class-action lawsuit is to recover some money for the inconvenience the recall has caused. He expects each client will receive a minimum of $1,000.
Toyota issued a recall of about 270,000 vehicles in Canada and 4.2 million around the world to fix a problem with sticking accelerator pedals. The company says on rare occasions, a friction device in conjunction with a spring in the accelerator pedal assembly may fail to operate properly.
The company has said dealers across the country will have parts to fix the potential problem by Friday.
Something went wrong
Margaret Tanner is one Fredericton-area driver who had a frightening experience in her Toyota. In October, the Burton woman was driving her 2010 Corolla back from work when she realized something was wrong.
When she turned her cruise control off, the car continued to accelerate and she said the car didn't slow down when she put the vehicle into third gear.
"And when I put it in neutral gear everything stopped, acceleration stopped," Tanner said.
"I put my foot on the brake, my brake was back, I just put my blinker on and pulled over to the side of the road and turned my car off."
She said at first the dealership didn't know what was wrong. Toyota said it was her floor mat and then it was the cold weather.
Tanner is taking her car to get fixed on Friday but that won't ease her fears. Tanner is not a participant in the class-action lawsuit against the auto company.
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