The hits just keep on coming for Toyota.
On the heels of a $16 million government fine and the potential for billions of dollars in loses after pending litigation shakes out, State Farm has asked Toyota to pay them back for any claims related to the unintended acceleration fiasco. Other insurers, including Allstate, are expected to follow suit and Mark Bunim, an attorney with the mediation firm Closed Case, says these subrogation demands could eventually end up costing Toyota up to $30 million. But the ultimate determination will take some time.
“Someone has to go through each and every auto claim, and then try to make a determination if it involved unwarranted acceleration,” Bunim says. “It could take months.”
This is not the first time State Farm has been at the forefront of action regarding Toyota. Back in 2007, State Farm warned the automaker and the NHTSA about an increase in unintended acceleration reports involving Toyota vehicles. While this warning adds further fuel to the argument that both Toyota and regulators were asleep at the switch, Department of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood pointed out on his blog that the NHTSA was looking into the problem as early as 2003.
The point is that our safety officials have been looking at this issue from all angles for quite some time.
So the idea that NHTSA is in the business of ignoring information–valuable or otherwise–from automobile insurers, safety organizations, or consumers is just plain wrong.
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Of course, this still doesn’t answer why it took them six years to act. Perhaps they were just being diligent.