Southern California Injury Law Blog

In April of 2009 Jeffrey Pepski asked to reopen his sudden acceleration case involving a Lexus ES 350 from Toyota. Lexus continues to insist these accidents are caused by defective floormats, which just does not make sense. He had been driving the car in on a roadway when a chilling series of events took place, reminiscent of the recent accident killing a CHP officer and his family as they preyed. A CHP trained officer knows, with the presence of mind to call 911 and pray, knows the difference between a stuck mat and a problem out of his control. Pepski's problem is eerily similar.

Pepski was driving his vehicle when it suddenly accelerated above 80 MPH. He tried pumping the accelerator and brakes without any benefit. He overheated his brakes in an attempt to stop the car, but could not get the speed below 25MPH. He put the car into neutral and the engine raced. He shifted back into drive, and suddenly, without any warning, the acceleration stopped. He turned off the vehicle, something he could not do earlier when he tried in neutral. He is adamant that the acceleration was not due to any mat problems, as he could lift and depress the accelerator.

In April he demanded NHTSA reopen the investigation when earlier inspection “found nothing wrong.” Naturally Toyota continues to pretend these are due to driver error or mats. This will not be the first time in recent months that Toyota has lied to protect itself from financial loss. See this article on Toyota destruction of evidence in rollover cases recently disclosed by their own prior attorney. In fact in an unusual response to the Pepski petition, Toyota did not wait for the inquiry of the NHTSA, but instead wrote a report criticizing every aspect of the request for inquiry of Mr. Pepski.

Now that the CHP officer’s case is under investigation, the evidence is becoming too common, too related, too dangerous to ignore. The NHTSA must investigate these cases more squarely, and insist on evaluation of the “black box” of car electronics. It is inconceivable that separate drivers, even trained drivers, would not notice that the accelerator is stuck under a floor mat.

The NHTSA is continuing the investigation into both matters, but don't think that it will be aggressive. Preliminary notes in both cases suggest yet again, "we can find no problem that can be reproduced." I.E let's kill a few more people before we really investigate. In the mean time, my wife’s desire for an SC 400 Lexus will have to wait until we know Toyota fixed this problem.

Allen, Flatt, Ballidis & Leslie is a law firm dedicated to helping accident victims. For more articles and information on auto accidents, please visit our web site.