Toyota has reached a $1.2 billion settlement with the U.S. government that ends a four-year criminal investigation into the automaker’s response to safety issues, Attorney General Eric Holder announced Wednesday.
Under the agreement, the company will admit that it misled U.S. consumers by making deceptive statements about two safety issues affecting its vehicles. As a result, Toyota will pay a $1.2 billion financial penalty under a "deferred prosecution agreement."
Holder called Toyota's conduct in the matter "shameful," and said that the automaker showed "a blatant disregard for systems and laws designed to look after the safety of consumers. By the company's own admission, it protected its brand ahead of its own customers. This constitutes a clear and reprehensible abuse of the public trust."
The settlement represents the largest penalty of its kind imposed on an automotive company by the U.S.
Holder added that “other car makers should not make Toyota’s mistake,” while U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Preet Bharara underlined this point, saying that Toyota’s public admissions should be a warning to other automakers.
In a statement early Wednesday, Toyota said it has "cooperated with the U.S. Attorney's office in this matter for more than four years" and had "made fundamental changes to become a more responsive and customer-focused organization, and we are committed to continued improvements."
The criminal investigation focused on whether Toyota was forthright in reporting problems related to unintended acceleration troubles.
Starting in 2009, Toyota issued massive recalls, mostly in the U.S., totaling more than 10 million vehicles for various problems including faulty brakes, gas pedals and floor mats. From 2010 through 2012, Toyota Motor Corp. paid fines totaling more than $66 million for delays in reporting unintended acceleration problems.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration never found defects in electronics or software in Toyota cars, which had been targeted as a possible cause.
The settlement continues a string of bad publicity for Toyota, which before the unintended acceleration cases had a bulletproof image of reliability. Since the cases surfaced, the company's brand image has been damaged and it has lost U.S. market share as competition has intensified.
Last year, Toyota agreed to pay more than $1 billion to resolve hundreds of lawsuits claiming that owners of its cars suffered economic losses because of the recalls. But that settlement did not include wrongful death and injury lawsuits that have been consolidated in California state and federal courts.
In December, Toyota filed court papers after a four-year legal battle saying that it's in settlement talks on nearly 400 U.S. lawsuits, but other cases aren't included in the talks.
The negotiations come less than two months after an Oklahoma jury awarded $3 million in damages to the injured driver of a 2005 Camry and to the family of a passenger who was killed.
The ruling was significant because Toyota had won all previous unintended acceleration cases that went to trial. It was also the first case where attorneys for plaintiffs argued that the car's electronics — in this case the software connected to a midsize Camry's electronic throttle-control system — were the cause of the unintended acceleration.
At the time, legal experts said the Oklahoma verdict might cause Toyota to consider a broad settlement of the remaining cases. Until then, Toyota had been riding momentum from several trials where juries found it was not liable.
Toyota has blamed drivers, stuck accelerators or floor mats that trapped the gas pedal for the acceleration claims that led to the big recalls of Camrys and other vehicles. The company has repeatedly denied its vehicles are flawed.
No recalls have been issued related to problems with onboard electronics. In the Oklahoma case, Toyota attorneys theorized that the driver mistakenly pumped the gas pedal instead of the brake when her Camry ran through an intersection and slammed into an embankment.
But after the verdict, jurors told AP they believed the testimony of an expert who said he found flaws in the car's electronics.
Toyota also had to pay millions for recalls, as well as a series of fines totaling $68 million to the NHTSA, the U.S. government's road safety watchdog, for being slow to report acceleration problems.
Still, the payments won't hurt Toyota's finances very much. In its last fiscal quarter alone, Toyota posted a $5.2 billion profit, crediting a weak yen and strong global sales.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.



豐田暴衝害命 367億和解

隱瞞油門卡死瑕疵 美司法部斥可恥




社長豐田章男表示,此事是促成豐田致力改革的轉捩點。歐新社

美國
【李 寧怡╱綜合外電報導】日本豐田汽車在2009至2010年因暴衝問題導致數十人喪生,陸續召修逾1400萬輛車。美國司法部歷經4年調查後,前天宣布起 訴,但豐田同意支付12億美元(約367億元台幣)罰款和解,打破汽車業在美國遭罰款的金額紀錄。因豐田曾就暴衝原因欺瞞公眾及政府調查人員,美司法部長 侯德痛斥其「行徑可恥」。
美司法部調查指,2009年豐田(TOYOTA)旗下的一輛凌志(LEXUS)車暴衝導致一家4人喪生後,豐田曾堅稱問題出在腳踏墊會卡住油門,當時僅召修部分車款更換腳踏墊。

指示勿留文字證據

後來豐田終於揭露油門踏板也有會踩得過深卡住地板的問題,展開大規模召修,卻仍向大眾、政府監管機構甚至國會聽證會隱瞞發現問題的時間點。
事 實上,豐田2007年就知道油門踏板瑕疵,但不認為嚴重到得召修,只要在每3至5年大改款更改設計即可。為對外隱瞞,豐田取消在美召修油門踏板計劃,指示 員工及零件供應商,勿將油門踏板設計變更形諸文字,以免證據外流。內部文件顯示,豐田高層曾為2007年成功遊說美國交通部監管機構相信瑕疵問題只出在腳 踏墊,為公司省下約30億元台幣召修費而得意不已。


豐田針對暴衝瑕疵原因說謊,重創商譽。法新社

損商譽銷量回不去

侯德前天指責豐田「把攸關公眾安全的緊急事件掩飾成簡單的公關問題」,並警告其他汽車業者「勿重蹈覆轍」,「一次召修可能傷害企業聲望,但欺騙顧客會讓這種傷害更深更久。」
豐田社長豐田章男昨在東京說,此事是豐田重大轉捩點,讓豐田大幅改革,「回歸顧客至上的基本原則。」至此,豐田已陸續為此事付出至少733億元台幣代價,重創過去備受信賴的商譽。如今雖銷量回升,但在美市佔率仍較2009年前的17.8%低了4個百分點。
和泰汽車公關部經理喻曉忠表示,此事是豐田汽車與美國司法部就先前在美國境內發生事件的和解,對台灣消費者沒有任何影響。

【報你知】全球召回 集體求償

2009年,加州公路警察馬克塞勒(Mark Saylor)租駕豐田凌志(LEXUS)ES 350轎車,在高速公路上煞車失靈,高速撞車後起火燃燒,車上4人罹難。車禍肇因腳踏墊卡住油門,引發豐田陸續在全球召回約1400萬輛車,並面臨數千車主提訟。
調查發現部分車輛暴衝原因是油門踏板瑕疵,豐田2007年即知情卻隱瞞。豐田已與部分受害者家屬達成和解協議,2012年也向加州法院提出和解案,願支付約336億元台幣賠償車主損失。