Criminal Charge Against Toyota Dismissed in Unintended Acceleration Case

Toyota has completed three years of monitoring under a $1.2-billion settlement.

U.S. District Judge William Pauley in New York has agreed to a U.S. Justice Department request to end the case stemming from Toyota’s unintended acceleration issues and the automaker’s admission that it misled U.S. consumers by concealing and making deceptive statements in 2009 and 2010. The Japanese automaker agreed to three years of oversight by an independent monitor, which ended in August 2017.

At the time, the $1.2-billion settlement was the largest penalty the U.S. has ever levied on an automaker – that is until Volkswagen came around with its massive diesel scandal that has resulted in $4.3 billion in fines.

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“Regrettably, the payment of a $1.2 billion fine and the appointment of a monitor appear to have concluded the government’s investigation into this tragic episode,” said Pauley. The judge originally said in 2014 the case represented a “reprehensible picture of corporate misconduct.”

According to Automotive News, there are still individual civil claims pending in California over Toyota’s unintended acceleration issue.

[Source: Automotive News]

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