Earlier this month, I filed a lawsuit against Toyota in Los Angeles, California, representing four businessmen who suffered injuries, many of them catastrophic, when their rental Toyota Camry sped up to excessive speeds, and crashed. Obviously, accidents involving Toyota vehicles, recalled or not, are of great interest to me.
This morning, Houston residents woke up to newspaper reports of another fatal accident involving a Toyota Siena minivan. According to the Houston Chronicle, a 62-year-old man was trying to park his Siena on the second floor of a parking garage in the W. Sam Houston Pkwy. The Siena seems to have smashed through the safety cable barriers, and fallen down approximately 20 feet. The minivan landed in an upside down position. Emergency personnel tried to revive the man, but to no avail. He died of his injuries a short while later.
The Toyota Siena minivan is not included in the list of vehicles recalled by the company over the last few months. However, it had been the focus of a federal probe just a few years ago. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s Office of Defects Investigation had launched a probe into unintended acceleration defects in the Toyota Siena minivan. That investigation came after one person complained that his Siena had revved up to uncontrollable speeds. In June 2003, Toyota made changes to the trim of the 2004 Siena to fix the problem. The Houston Chronicle report doesn’t mention the model year of the Siena that crashed in the parking garage in this tragedy.
The pertinent question here would be – Was sudden and unintended acceleration a factor in this tragedy? Judging by the speed with which Toyota has responded to Houston Toyota recall lawyers, concerned consumers and safety groups, I wouldn’t expect the automaker to come up with a possible explanation for this accident any time soon.
Vuk Vujasinovic is a Board Certified Houston personal injury attorney who practices Houston auto accident and other personal injury cases.
For more info on how Vuk can help you with your potential case please call him at (877) 724-7800 or fill out the contact form on the right.
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