再びトヨタに疑惑の目 現在も続くトヨタ車の急加速問題
トヨタ自動車が、2009年から2010年にかけて、急加速問題による大規模なリコールを行ったことは
記憶に新しいだろう。今回、車情報サイト『Inside Line』が伝えたところによると、
一連の事故を担当しているカリフォルニア州連邦地裁ジェームズ・セルナ判事が、
2010年にユタ州で事故を起こした
車の調査をトヨタ4 件が独断で行ったことについて陪審員団に対し、
「特に慎重に審議してほしい」と異例の勧告を行ったという。
今回、
論争の的となっているのは、2010年11月にユタ州で4名の死傷者を出した2008年型「カムリ」の
意図しない急加速による衝突事故。原告の弁護団は事故当時から、
トヨタ4 件側がオーナーの同意も立会いもなしに、
データ記録装置（EDR）を調査したことは、
「データの改ざん、もしくは削除が行われた可能性がある」
として
激しい非難を浴びせていた。
これについて、セルナ判事はトヨタ4 件が情報隠ぺいを働いたという
確実な証拠はないものの、
EDRは基本的に車のオーナーのものであり、トヨタは調査の際に一言オーナーに了解を得るべきであった
という見解を述べている。
Toyota Sudden Acceleration Sanction
A sign is displayed at Toyota of Marin on January 26, 2011 in San Rafael, California. Toyota has received a sanction from a federal judge in the national sudden acceleration trial.
Toyota is facing the possibility of a sanction thanks to actions that "cast a cloud of suspicion," according to a federal judge.
In the first national sudden acceleration court case, Toyota received a tentative sanction from a federal judge on Wednesday because the company's decision to inspect the vehicle of a fatal car crash without contacting the victims' lawyer "cast a cloud of suspicion" over their inspection, the National Law Journal reports. The judge wrote that Toyota had violated his order to preserve the car's data, though he did not find evidence of Toyota of tampering with the data. He has yet to decide whether to issue an official sanction or, if so, what the penalties would be.
"It is clear that Toyota understood it was in a pre-litigation phase when it inspected the Van Alfen vehicle," U.S. District Judge James Selna wrote in his tentative order, according to the National Law Journal. "It is equally clear that Toyota understood that the Van Alfen family was represented by counsel.... They were simply not given the opportunity to be present."
Toyota faces nearly 200 lawsuits related to sudden acceleration accidents and deaths. The case in which the decision was issued on Wednesday was the first to be heard. The case involves Paul Van Alfen, a Utah man, who crashed into a stone wall in 2010 after he allegedly wasn't able to break. He and his soon-to-be daughter-in-law were killed.
Toyota claimed in its court filing that the car's black box recorder shows that Val Alfen never braked, based on its inspection of the car. The sanction may be a sign that the judge is somewhat skeptical of Toyota's assertion.
Toyota withheld a key document from federal investigators showing that the company was aware of sudden acceleration on one type of car before it went to market, CNN reported in March.
Shinichi Sasaki, an executive vice president of Toyota, wrote in an e-mail that Toyota had colored the truth when the sudden acceleration accusations came out, The Huffington Post reported in January. "I feel that there have been certain statements made, while not entirely untruthful per se, that avoided direct confrontation of the truth," he wrote.
Posted at 2012/06/22 16:07:51 | |
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