Amnon Siegel represents a Class of potentially 800,000 Toyota Prius drivers in a federal court class action lawsuit against Toyota Motor Corporation in Japan and its subsidiary, Toyota Motor Sales, Inc. in the United States. Recently, Amnon did a radio tour to inform the public about safety defects in Prius model years 2010-2014 that could pose a public safety risk. Amnon was interviewed on six radio station programs across the country reaching an audience of over 29.3 million.
Listen to Liz Black interview Amnon on National Urban Radio Network/Local NYC Outlet:
AURN-WLIB-AM.
At the heart of this lawsuit is a part in the Prius electric power system called an inverter which controls power flowing between the battery and the electric motors. The inverter in the Prius model years 2010-2014 is prone to overheating and failing. Rather than issuing a recall to replace the defective inverters at approximately $3,000 per vehicle, Toyota opted for a software upgrade, which only cost $80. Only after a driver has had the software upgrade and then suffered a failure on the road will Toyota replace the faulty inverter.
Despite knowing that inverters continue to fail, Toyota has not issued a proper fix. Plaintiffs filed the class action lawsuit in an effort to get Toyota to finally resolve this large-scale problem.
Also, in July 2019, a Southern California jury awarded $15.8 million against Toyota to another of Amnon’s clients, the owner of two Southern California Toyota dealerships. That case involved, among other issues, the same Priuses with defective inverters, which the two Toyota dealerships refused to sell until Toyota issued an appropriate fix. The jury’s verdict reflects that it agreed that Toyota had failed to comply with its obligations to its dealers, who service Toyota customers, to properly fix the 800,000 Priuses.
In addition to the lawsuits, the safety defects in Prius model years 2010-2014 have been widely reported in the media:
LA Times Story Gallery
CBS News
Forbes
For more information regarding the class action lawsuit against Toyota, contact:
Amnon Siegel, Partner
asiegel@millerbarondess.com
310-552-7557