Allstate Seeks $3M for Claims Paid Over Toyota Acceleration Problems

Toyota Motor Corp. is being sued by Allstate Insurance Co. over $3 million the auto insurer paid for accidents and injury claims that were alleged caused by unintended acceleration in recalled Toyota vehicles. 

The lawsuit was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court on October 1, and contains similar allegations to those contained in dozens of Toyota acceleration lawsuits filed by individuals across the country.

Allstate accuses Toyota of ignoring evidence of problems with their vehicles and delaying a recall which could have prevented many of the accidents and claims the insurance company had to pay.

Allstate officials indicate that they are likely the first of several major insurance carriers who will sue Toyota, according to a report by Reuters.

The insurance company alleges that there is a problem with Toyota’s electronic throttle system, an accusation that Toyota still vigorously denies. Allstate also faulted the Japanese auto maker for not putting a brake override system into the vehicles that would have allowed drivers to stop more easily if their cars sped out of control. Allstate claims that it paid out a total of more than $3 million for property damage, personal injury claims and fatalities related to defective Toyota vehicles.

Toyota recalls have been issued for about 11 million vehicles since September 2009, with 8.5 million recalled due to complaints that they may accelerate out of control. The acceleration recalls were done in waves, starting with 4.2 million recalled for problems involving the floormats, and then later recalls indicated that there was a mechanical or electrical problem with the gas pedals.

The Toyota acceleration accidents have resulted in a number of lawsuits, including Toyota injury lawsuits and Toyota wrongful death lawsuits filed by family members of people allegedly killed when their vehicles accelerated out of control.

In April, all federal Toyota sudden acceleration lawsuits were consolidated and centralized before U.S. District Judge James Selna as part of a multidistrict litigation (MDL) for pretrial proceedings. There were about 228 federal lawsuits over recalled Toyota vehicles included in the MDL, and nearly 100 other lawsuits pending in state courts nationwide at the time.

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