Toyota settles lawsuit out of court, but action puts dealers on alert

The famous crash involving the family of an off-duty California Highway Patrol officer in a Lexus ES, that sparked off the entire "Toyota-gate" has been settled out of court between Toyota and the families of the deceased.

“Through mutual respect and cooperation we were able to resolve this matter without the need for litigation,” Toyota said in a statement late Friday, without disclosing the terms of the settlement.

The amount of compensation was not disclosed. However, we know that the details of the settlement did not include co-defendant Bob Baker Lexus, the Lexus dealer that provided the loaner car that would later accelerate out of control.

"Toyota has sought to protect only its own interests. They decided to cut out their own dealer," the paper quoted Larry Willis, attorney for Bob Baker Lexus, as saying. The glaring omission of the Lexus dealer implies that an option is open for Toyota's lawyers to push the blame to the dealer. There are still more than 300 lawsuits on sudden acceleration related crashes / injuries against Toyota. Better be on your toes if you are a Toyota / Lexus dealer in America. It looks like Big-T is still insisting that there are no problem with its cars, and that the problem is with the dealers.