Toyota's agreement to pay a record $32.4 million to settle U.S. Department of Transportation investigations into the giant automaker's handling of two recalls does nothing to resolve civil lawsuits brought by the Orange County District Attorney's Office and the families of those killed or injured in crashes tied to sudden acceleration of Toyota vehicles.
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Toyota's settlement with the feds brings total penalties the Japanese automaker has paid to the U.S. government to $48.8 million.
The OCDA in March filed an unfair business practices lawsuit in Orange County Superior Court against Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A., Inc. It was the first such lawsuit in the nation. Noting the many sudden acceleration complaints against Toyota at the time, DA Tony Rackauckas said, “We need to make sure that when Toyota says 'Oh what
a feeling' and 'Moving Forward,' they are talking about great cars.“
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.