Lawsuits blame Toyota problem on electronic throttle control

Toyota, which last week recalled 2.3 million vehicles in the United States to fix sticking gas pedals, faces lawsuits that link so-called sudden-acceleration problem to other causes.

At least three class-action, or group, lawsuits filed in November and one last week against Toyota blame the sudden acceleration on the cars' electronic throttle-control system, known as the ETCS-Intelligent System.

"Vehicles equipped with ETCS-I have a dangerous propensity to suddenly accelerate without driver input and against the intentions of the driver," Toyota customers said in a complaint filed in federal court in Charleston, W.Va.

Toyota's decision Tuesday to stop U.S. production and sales of eight models to fix defective accelerator pedals may cost the company as much as $1.1 billion in operating profit a month, according to Koji Endo, managing director of Advanced Research Japan in Tokyo. The recall, announced Jan. 21, covers the same eight models, including Toyota's top-selling Camry and Corolla cars.

The carmaker said it's also adding 1.09 million U.S. cars to a November recall of a record 4.26 million vehicles because floor mats could jam the pedals. A class action filed Jan. 4 in federal court in Miami cites the floor mats as the cause of the sudden acceleration.

John Hanson, a spokesman for Toyota, didn't comment on the litigation.

Plaintiffs' lawyers claim Toyota knew of the sudden-acceleration problem for years before the November recall.

"First they blamed it on the driver, then it was the floor mats, then the accelerator pedal, and now they're shutting down the plants," Edgar Heiskell, an attorney in the West Virginia case, said Thursday. "Toyota's position has changed at least three times."

Reports of unintended accelerations of Toyota cars "began to increase significantly in 2002, when Toyota began installing the ETCS-I in a broad range of its vehicle lines," according to the West Virginia complaint.