Pam Bondi’s Office Enters Settlement with Toyota over 'Sticky' Accelerators

Florida Attorney General Pam Bondi entered a settlement Thursday with Toyota Motor Corp., resolving allegations that Toyota publicly represented that its vehicles were safe despite knowing about unintended acceleration caused by accelerator entrapment and sticky accelerator pedals.

The agreement, which 29 other states joined, requires Toyota to make operational changes and full disclosures about its resold vehicles. Toyota must pay $29 million in total as part of the national settlement, including nearly $2 million to the Florida attorney generals office to cover investigative costs, attorney fees, and future enforcement efforts.

Misrepresenting a vehicles safety endangers the public and violates Floridas consumer protection law, stated Bondi in a press release. I am pleased that Toyota cooperated with our office and has agreed to protect consumers by reforming its operations.

The settlement prohibits Toyota from reselling a vehicle it reacquired with safety defects without informing the purchaser about the defects and certifying that the reacquired vehicle has been fixed.

The Florida attorney generals office led the investigation along with Connecticut, Louisiana, Michigan, Nevada, New Jersey, Ohio, South Carolina and Washington. According to Bondi's release, the following states participated in todays settlement: Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, South Carolina, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Washington, and Wisconsin.