It was just this week that Leftlane brought you the news that Toyota’s first unintended acceleration case to involve a jury had reached that stage in a New York district court, and already the jury has reached a verdict.
Now Toyota says that after a 45 minute deliberation, the jury reached a verdict in favor of Toyota, dismissing the claims by Dr. Sitafalwalla.
The man who filed the case against Toyota had made the case that an unsecured floor mat in his Scion was the primary cause of the crash, after his attorney withdrew his assertion that the Electronic Throttle Control System may have also been at fault, admitting he had no evidence to back up the claim.
Toyota released the following statement following the jury’s decision:
“Toyota is pleased that the jury found no merit to this unintended acceleration claim, refused to accept testimony about possible pedal entrapment by the Scion’s floor mat, and rejected arguments that Toyota was liable for the absence of a brake override system in the vehicle. Importantly, plaintiff’s expert could identify no electronic defect in the vehicle’s Electronic Throttle Control System (ETCS) and offered no scientific proof of any electrical or mechanical malfunction in the throttle control or braking systems of Dr. Sitafalwalla’s vehicle.”
Now that Toyota has won its first major case against unintended acceleration claims, it may prove to be a valuable asset to the automaker in future cases by allowing the case to act as a precedent.
