OKLAHOMA CITY — Toyota reached a confidential settlement Friday with the victims of a deadly crash in Oklahoma to avoid punitive damages in a case where a jury found a 2005 Camry’s on-board electronics system was defective and caused it to accelerate suddenly.
A day earlier, the Oklahoma jury awarded a total of $3 million in monetary damages to the driver of the car, who was injured, and the family of the passenger, who was killed in the crash in 2007.
It’s the first jury ruling against Toyota in a personal injury case involving unintended acceleration. Of equal significance was the jury’s determination that a defect in a Toyota vehicle’s software linked to the electronic throttle-control system was to blame. The Japanese automaker has recalled millions of car after claims of unintended acceleration. It has denied that electronics played any role in the problem.
