1992 Toyota Previa Dx Mini Passenger Van 3-door 2.4l on 2040-cars

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Toyota found not at fault in alleged unintended acceleration crash

Toyota has already paid out millions and billions of dollars in settlements surrounding unintended acceleration, but the first lawsuit in the matter, which headed to a California court in July, has reached a verdict. Following the 2009 death of Noriko Uno, whose 2006 Camry was hit by another car and then sped out of control before crashing into a tree, the jury found that Toyota was not at fault in the crash.
Even though the 2006 Camry (shown above) wasn't involved in any of the unintended acceleration-related recalls and it was not equipped with a brake override, Automotive News reports that the jury's verdict says there was no defect in the car and actually blames the entire incident on the driver that ran into Uno's car - to the tune of $10 million. The accident started when the other driver ran a stop sign and hit Uno's car, and the report says that medical conditions (including diabetes) caused Uno to fail to stop her Camry.
The AN article also states that this lawsuit was a bellwether case for around 85 other personal-injury and wrongful-death suits against Toyota, but there are still many impending suits across the country. Scroll down for an official statement on this particular case from Toyota.

Carmakers, NHTSA to unveil auto-emergency braking agreement tomorrow

Happy St. Patrick's Day Eve. Tomorrow, there will be green beer, corned beef and cabbage, and automatic emergency braking for all. Weird combo, we know. But on St. Patty's we can expect an official announcement from a pact of automakers making auto-braking systems standard equipment by 2022. That's per a report from Reuters, which cites three sources familiar with the plans. Originally announced in September 2015 by 10 automakers and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the agreement is expected to be even larger when the details are unveiled tomorrow. According to Reuters, the manufacturers of 99 percent of the US domestic market's vehicles will be represented by the new agreement. It's believed that standard AEB systems could prevent thousands of accidents across the country. Expect more on the official announcement when it's made. Related Video:

Toyota recalls power window switches for 6.5 million vehicles [UPDATE]

UPDATE: There was one incident of someone in the US getting a burn to the hand from this issue Toyota spokesperson Cindy Knight tells Autoblog that. "We have 11 reports where part of the door trim and/or switch was burnt," she said. The company isn't aware of any crashes from the problem, though. Because of a potential short circuit in the driver's side power window switch, Toyota is recalling 6.5 million vehicles worldwide, Reuters reports. Of those, the automaker says around 2 million are in the US. The affected models here are: 2007 and 2009 Camry and Camry Hybrid 2009-2011 Corolla 2008-2011 Highlander and Highlander Hybrid 2009-2011 Matrix 2006-2011 RAV4 2009-2011 Sequoia 2009-2011 Tundra 2006-2010 Yaris 2009-2011 Scion xB 2009-2010 Scion xD According to Toyota, the switch might not have received adequate lubricant grease during manufacturing, and over time this could lead to a short circuit. In a worst-case scenario, the part might even overheat, melt and cause a fire. As a fix, dealers will inspect the component on these vehicles and apply heat-resistant grease to it, and any broken examples will have an internal circuit board replaced. Toyota already issued one recall for this problem in 2012 when it had to repair 7.5 million vehicles globally from the 2007-2009 model years, including 2.5 million in the US. These latest models had the grease applied in a different way. Related Video: Toyota Recalls Certain Vehicles for Power Window Master Switch October 21, 2015 TORRANCE, Calif., Oct. 20, 2015 – Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. today announced that it is conducting a safety recall of approximately 2,000,000 vehicles related to the driver's side Power Window Master Switch. The involved vehicles include certain: 2007 and 2009 Camry and Camry Hybrid 2009-2011 Corolla 2008-2011 Highlander and Highlander Hybrid 2009-2011 Matrix 2006-2011 RAV4 2009-2011 Sequoia 2009-2011 Tundra 2006-2010 Yaris 2009-2011 Scion xB 2009-2010 Scion xD The Power Window Master Switch in the involved vehicles may have been manufactured with insufficient lubricant grease. If not enough grease is applied, under certain conditions the switch may develop a short circuit that can cause the switch assembly to overheat and melt. A melting switch can produce smoke and potentially lead to a fire. Toyota previously recalled certain 2007-2009 model year vehicles for a similar condition.