Relatives of the three Filipino Americans and of California Highway Patrol Officer Mark Saylor who were killed in an August crash that initiated the recall of millions of Toyota vehicles filed a lawsuit March 2, blaming the giant Japanese carmaker for the deaths.
The lawsuit filed in San Diego Superior Court also named Bob Baker Lexus as co-defendant. The El Cajon-based car dealership loaned Saylor a 2009 Lexus ES-350 sedan the morning of August 28, after Saylor took his car in for service.
Saylor, who was 45 at the time of his death, was driving with his wife, Cleofe Lastrella Saylor, also 45; their 13-year-old daughter, Mahala; and his brother-in-law, Christopher “Chris” Lastrella, 38, of Vallejo (Solano Co.), when the sedan accelerated out of control and crashed at about 120 miles per hour where state Route 125 meets Mission Gorge Road in suburban Santee in San Diego.
Investigators later said a wrong-sized floor mat trapped the gas pedal on the Lexus ES-350 that led the vehicle to speed out of control.
The lawsuit was filed by Fe and Cleto Lastrella of Vallejo—parents of Saylor’s wife and brother-in-law—and his (Saylor’s) parents, John Saylor and Joan Robbins.
They accused Toyota of product liability, and Bob Baker Lexus of negligence, for the ghastly accident.
They are seeking an unspecified amount of money in damages.
About a minute before the crash Chris placed a frantic 911 call from the vehicle. He told an emergency dispatcher that the accelerator pedal was stuck and that his brother-in-law, Saylor, was unable to slow the car down.
"We're in trouble. . . There's no brakes. End freeway half-mile," Chris said during the recorded conversation.
Others in the car are heard yelling "hold on" and "pray" as the call ended.
Witnesses said the Lexus slammed into a Ford Explorer, plowed over a curb, and rammed through a fence before it flipped and burst into flames, killing Saylor and his relatives instantly.
Lastrella testimony
Last week Fe Lastrella, mother of Cleofe and Chris, gave a tearful testimony about the family tragedy before a hearing of the US House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.
"We do not like another person, another family to suffer like we are suffering," Lastrella told the hearing as she appealed to Toyota and federal officials to ramp up their safety efforts in the face of mounting complaints of accidents related to Toyota's recall of nearly 10 million cars worldwide.
The moving Lastrella testimony, captured on national television, gave a tragic face to the series of recalls launched in late January by the troubled Japanese carmaker.
Lastrella, who was accompanied by her husband, Cleto, were immigrants from Nabua, Camarines in Bicol who settled in Vallejo, California. Their children Cleofe and Christopher both grew up in Vallejo where they went to elementary and high school.
The Lastrella matriarch was among the final scheduled witnesses in a day of testimony that also featured US Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood and Toyota president Akio Toyoda, grandson of the automaker's founder.
Toyoda repeatedly apologized for the accelerator problems and later met privately with the Lastrella family.
Congressional hearings
The crash that killed Chris and the Saylors, who lived in Chula Vista, was the emotional centerpiece of the congressional hearing.
“We now know that the terrifying deaths of this family were not caused by a freak accident,” said committee chair Edolphus Towns (D-New York), in his opening statement. “It turns out that people from all over the country had been complaining about sudden acceleration in Toyota vehicles for years.”
“Prior to today, we cannot say that Toyota was a great company, perhaps not even a good company,” declared Representative Darrell Issa (R-Chula Vista), and the committee’s ranking member.
San Diego County Sheriff's investigators said the crash likely was caused by the gas pedal becoming stuck in an all-weather rubber floor mat designed for a larger vehicle but placed by the Lexus dealership in the sedan loaned to Saylor.
The accident report said "other avenues of unintended acceleration could not be explored," mechanical or electrical, due to severe damage to the vehicle.
The report also revealed that another driver who had been loaned the same car a few days earlier told investigators the vehicle raced out of control on him when the gas pedal jammed in the floor mat. He managed to free the errant acceleration pedal after placing the gear shift into neutral.
He complained to a dealership receptionist when he returned the car, and the receptionist told investigators she alerted the detail specialist on duty, but the detailer claimed never to have received such a complaint, the report said.
Toyota has recalled more than 5 million vehicles in the United States for slipping floor mats. Another 2.2 million US recall notices were issued for sticking accelerator pedals.
Rising death toll
Deaths from vehicular accidents attributed to possible unintended acceleration in Toyota vehicles have risen to 58, according to the Detroit Free Press.
The Detroit daily also reported on Tuesday that the number of complaints to US auto safety regulators related to sudden acceleration also has more than doubled to 3,300 since the series of recalls by Toyota in late January.
These vehicular accidents have triggered a spate of lawsuits against the troubled Japanese giant carmaker, but the San Diego is the most highly publicized of these cases.
Already, the world' biggest automaker is also confronted by a barrage of federal suits across the nation that attorneys hope will be certified as class action lawsuit.
A hearing by a special panel of federal judges on whether those suits will be consolidated into one and assigned to a single federal court judge is scheduled for March 25 in San Diego.
David Mikael Taclino
Inyu Web Development and Design
Creative Writer
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