Torrance woman sues Toyota over deadly 2008 crash
A Torrance woman has sued Toyota Motor Corp., blaming a deadly 2008 freeway crash on a defect that she said caused her Lexus sport utility vehicle to accelerate out of control.
Unmi Suk Chung was driving her 2004 RX330 on the 10 Freeway in West Los Angeles on Dec. 15, 2008, when the car raced to 80 mph, crashed on the Overland Avenue offramp and overturned, killing a passenger in the back seat. Chung and another passenger were injured.
The lawsuit comes less than two months after the Los Angeles County district attorney’s office dismissed a felony vehicular manslaughter charge it had filed against Chung in connection with the accident. Authorities concluded that publicity over alleged sudden-acceleration problems in Toyota vehicles would make it difficult to win a conviction.
In the last year, sudden-acceleration problems have been blamed in hundreds of crashes of Toyota cars. The automaker has recalled millions of vehicles to repair gas pedals and replace floor mats it blamed for the problem.
Toyota issued a statement Thursday that expressed sympathy for those affected by the crash but said allegations that a defect in Toyota’s Electronic Throttle Control System were to blame “are completely unfounded and simply without merit.” In a recent news conference, a Toyota attorney said there was no evidence that a computer problem has caused the acceleration problems. He said that most of the drivers in deadly crashes were older and that it was likely that many of them pressed the gas pedal instead of the brakes.
The RX330 was not among the recent recalls. But that model was recalled in 2006 because of a floor-mat defect that the company said could cause the gas pedal to stick.
Chung, 62, told California Highway Patrol investigators that the car accelerated even as she pressed the brake pedal with all her power. A passenger who survived the crash told CHP investigators that Chung was screaming, “No brakes! No brakes! No brakes!” in the moments before the crash.
The district attorney’s office filed criminal charges against Chung, saying her reckless driving had led to the passenger’s death. It dismissed the charges Oct. 19.
Head Deputy Dist. Atty. John F. Lynch said he believed Chung inadvertently pressed the gas pedal instead of the brake, causing her to lose control. But, he said, publicity about the Toyota recalls would make the case difficult to prove. He said he also was swayed by relatives of the woman who died in the crash, 69-year-old Esook Synn, who said they did not want Chung to be prosecuted.
The lawsuit, like dozens of others filed against Toyota, contends that a problem with the car’s computer throttle system caused it to accelerate on its own. The suit also faults Toyota for failing to install a brake override that would close the throttle when the gas pedal is engaged, a fail-safe system used by many other automakers.
