EAGLE — Ted James says he tried to blow the whistle on safety issues with Toyota more than three years ago, but no one at Toyota would listen.
“I tried everything I could to sound the alarm, and I was ignored. It was so frustrating,” James said.
He is hoping Congress will listen now. James wants to testify at the congressional hearings later this month about Toyota’s problems.
He said he notified Toyota there was a defect in the vehicles that could be deadly in August 2006 after an accident nearly killed his wife.
The family lives in Eagle. The accident happened as Elizabeth James was driving the family’s Toyota Prius east on Interstate 70 past Idaho Springs.
She said she was coasting on a downhill section of the highway, and that her foot was not on the gas pedal.
“All of the sudden the car just surged and her first reaction was to apply the brakes, but it didn’t slow it down. She put on the emergency brake, but it didn’t help either,” Ted James said. “She looked at the speedometer, and she was going 90 miles an hour.”
Elizabeth James had to swerve onto the shoulder to avoid cars. She got off the highway and sped past a pedestrian. She said she was terrified she would hurt or kill someone so she looked for a safe place to crash her car. When she saw an area with a lot of trees she drove toward it. Going 90 mph, the Prius flipped three times. It landed 30 feet down an embankment in Clear Creek.
“The investigators told me they don’t know how Elizabeth survived it. It is amazing she didn’t die,” Ted James said.
Elizabeth James had to crawl out and up an embankment to flag down help. She suffered serious injuries to her back and legs and still has pain.
Soon after the crash, Ted James went to the accident scene with his video camera.
The Colorado State Patrol investigated the accident. In their report it was determined that the “accelerator stuck open.” Elizabeth James was not ticketed for the crash.
Ted James said it was clear to him and to his wife that the car had malfunctioned.
“I was concerned for other people. I knew that if our car had this defect, other ones did too,” he said.
He immediately notified his Toyota dealership and contacted the Toyota Motor Corp.
The family had independent inspectors examine the Prius alongside Toyota inspectors. He and a lawyer, who is a family friend, sent letters to Toyota to alert them of what they felt was a potentially deadly problem that was not isolated to their vehicle.
In a letter dated Jan. 23, 2007, from the Toyota Legal Department, the company concluded that the brakes were worn but that the acceleration system was fine.
“Be assured that we are not accusing Mrs. James of lying. We are sure she believes that her vehicle accelerated on its own; but our inspection of her vehicle did not reveal any evidence to support her allegations,” the letter said.
The James’ family friend and lawyer wrote in a letter to Toyota on March 27, 2007: “You are on notice, these (vehicles) are defective and the defect is of such a nature that serious injury and death may occur.”
Nearly three years later, the family started hearing the news they were afraid would come.
“I just winced,” Ted James said.
