Car Crashes and the Toyota Recall
With the large scale of the recent Toyota recalls, I have had several people call my office with questions related to their involvement in car crashes with a Toyota prior to the recall. So how does a recall impact an accident that has happened in the past?
A recall is a response by a manufacturer to collect products for repair, replacement or destruction in order to avoid any more people being hurt by a design flaw, manufacturing mistake or contamination. By law, during a recall the manufacturer is given a chance to fix the problem and the product owners are expected to cooperate. In the case of Toyota, if you choose not to repair your car as advised and your recalled but unmodified Toyota later causes a car accident, it will be much more difficult to recover damages claiming it was the fault of the car.
A recall is also an admission by a manufacturer of the existence of a problem and thereby helpful in providing a reason or contributing factor as to why an accident, or in this case, a car crash, may have occurred. The Toyota recall could shift the cause of a car accident from "The driver was going to fast" to "The accelerator on the Toyota was stuck" or from "The driver didn't allow enough time to brake" to "The brakes on the Toyota did not respond". You will need a lawyer to help prove there was faulty performance of the car, but how damages and medical bills are awarded can change dramatically if the proof does indicate the cause of the car crash was the car and not the driver.
Since Toyota's announcement of the recall, if you have been fortunate enough to avoid having a related car crash follow the instructions promptly to have your car repaired. If you own a Toyota, start with a visit to http://www.toyota.com/recall and perhaps a call to your dealer. However, if you were in a car crash caused by a Toyota prior to the recalls, contact a car accident attorney to be sure your case is properly investigated and handled in light of the details of the recall.
