Kerikeri woman wins ruling against Toyota
BAYLEY MOOR
June 22 2017
BAYLEY MOOR/FAIRFAX NZ
Kerikeri woman Carolyn Fox, at the site on Kerikeri Rd where she stopped her Toyota Blade after it accelerated unexpectedly.
A Kerikeri woman had to put both feet on her brake pedal after her car accelerated to 100kmh by itself.
Carolyn Fox was driving her 2007 Toyota Blade G Hatch - purchased from Northland Toyota in Whangarei - on July 2, 2016 on Kerikeri Rd to the Bay of Islands Airport when the vehicle accelerated unexpectedly from 60kmh to 100km.
After considering her options, she applied both feet to the brake pedal and pushed down as hard as she could.
Toyota disputes that there is a fault and maintains it was probably caused by an unsecured floor mat, but a disputes tribunal adjudicator has ruled in favour Fox.
The Motor Vehicles Disputes Tribunal decision resulted in Fox being awarded the purchase price of her car and part of the mechanical warranty after two instances of the car accelerating unexpectedly.
The adjudicator's report stated: "However although the nature of the fault remains unknown, having excluded driver error as the cause, I am satisfied that the unintended acceleration was caused by an undiagnosed fault with the vehicle."
Northland Toyota chief executive Bryce Woodward says Toyota NZ currently have the vehicle.
"We are confident it is fault free. It is not currently available for sale."
Despite the tribunal ruling that an undiagnosed fault was likely the cause of the unintended acceleration, Woodward says they stand by their conclusion that an unsecured floor mat in the driver side foot well was likely the cause.
Fox said the vehicle travelled two kilometres from the initial "unintended acceleration". When the car came to a stop she put the vehicle into neutral before switching the engine off.
Fox restarted the car and continued through the Kerikeri Rd roundabout towards the airport. Upon exiting the roundabout the vehicle again accelerated unexpectedly, and she immediately put both feet on the brake and put the vehicle into neutral.
She then continued onto the airport, experiencing no further problems.
Fox returned the vehicle on August 3 2016, which Northland Toyota refused to accept. Before the tribunal hearing, Northland Toyota offered to refund the purchase price, which Fox declined.
"It's an independent legal ruling that there is something else wrong with the car, besides the possibility of driver error or the floor mat being the reason for the unintended acceleration," Fox says.
"The reason why I risked losing the case, was to have the ability to speak publicly with the backing of the court's ruling, because Toyota were consistently minimising the cause of the unintended acceleration."
Fox says all drivers should be told to secure their floor mats and how to stop a car that's accelerating unexpectedly.
"Just put it into neutral, nothing else is going to safely stop the car."
- Stuff
Toyota Auris
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Toyota Blade [edit]
The upscale sister of the Auris is called the Blade. It replaced the Toyota Allex, which, in turn, was the replacement for the
Toyota Sprinter. The Blade was sold at Japanese Toyota dealerships Toyota Store and Toyopet Store locations, while the Auris
was exclusive to Toyota Corolla Store and Toyota NETZ Store locations. It has different front and rear sheetmetal, and is powered
by Toyota's 2.4-litre 2AZ-FE engine. Recently Toyota released the Blade Master and Blade Master G, an upgraded trim of the
Blade which features Toyota's 280 PS (206 kW), 3.5-litre 2GR-FE V6 engine, larger brakes, and an upgraded suspension. Toyota
discontinued the Blade in April 2012 ahead of the replacement of the Auris, without a direct successor.
