88-Year-Old Greensboro Resident Files North Carolina Auto Products Liability Lawsuit Against Toyota Over Acceleration Accident
William Lee Hemphill, 88, has filed a North Carolina auto products liability lawsuit against Toyota Motor Sales USA, Toyota Motor Corp, and car dealer Flow Imports Inc. for injuries he sustained when his 2004 Lexus LS43) accelerated out of control.
Hemphill’s Guilford County, North Carolina injury lawsuit claims that his Lexus went into “uncontrolled rapid acceleration” as he was driving out of a parking garage on December 11. The Greensboro driver managed to avoid striking any pedestrians, but his car struck a building pillar before driving into an electrical transformer.
The 88-year-old broke his leg and is now at a Greensboro rehabilitation center. Hemphill claims that his Lexus had accelerated involuntarily before. He says that before the North Carolina car crash happened, he took his Lexus to Flow. The dealer repaired a broken hook on the driver’s side floor mat before telling him that the vehicle was safe to drive.
According to Hemphill’s North Carolina car accident attorney, Toyota’s acceleration issues have injured or killed over 2,000 people. More than 8.5 million Toyota vehicles have been recalled.
Yesterday, in front of the US House, a woman that lost her son, daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter when the Lexus ES 350 sedan they were riding accelerated out of control to over 100 mph before crashing and killing everyone in the car spoke about the need to make sure that another family does not suffer this kind of massive loss because of a Toyota auto defect. The August 2009 runaway Toyota car crash occurred because the gas pedal got stuck in the floor mat.
Also yesterday, Akio Toyoda, the grandson of the man who founded Toyota, went before Congress to apologize to the family and the millions of Toyota vehicle owners.
Greensboro man sues Toyota after accelerator problems, crash, News & Record, February 24, 2010
Lastrella puts tragic face on Toyota recalls, Washington Post, February 24, 2010
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Toyota Motor Corporation
