One car barreled through a stop sign, struck a tree and landed upside down in a Texas lake, drowning four people. Another tore across an Indiana street and crashed into a jewelry store. A third raced at an estimated 100 mph on a San Bernardino County street before striking a telephone pole, killing a restaurant owner.
At least 56 people have died in U.S. traffic accidents in which sudden unintended acceleration of Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles has been alleged, according to a Times review of public records and interviews with authorities.
Most died while doing the mundane: returning to work after lunch, shopping, driving to the bank to make a deposit. The deaths occurred in big cities and small towns throughout the U.S.: Los Angeles; Tucson; Auburn, N.Y.; Marietta, Ga. The stories are told in court filings, federal accident complaints and police reports.
In the last decade, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received complaints of 34 fatalities related to sudden acceleration of Toyota vehicles, far more than for any other automaker. At least 22 additional deaths related to Toyota acceleration problems have been alleged in lawsuits and police reports.
The NHTSA database does not determine whether the complaints are valid, and none of the allegations have been proved in court. Still, the increase in the number of people who publicly blame Toyota vehicles for deaths and injuries comes at a difficult time for the world's largest automaker, which in recent months has issued nearly 10 million safety recall notices on vehicles worldwide.
Toyota spokesman Brian Lyons declined to comment for this report, saying the company does not discuss cases in which litigation has been, or may be, filed. The company has said it is confident that all models with potentially sticking pedals have been identified and that the recalls will address all problems.
In the last week, Toyota has become the focus of a U.S. criminal investigation related to its handling of safety issues; its president apologized before a congressional committee; and an internal memo was released in which Toyota executives boasted about saving money by averting recalls.
'Look of terror'
Umni Suk Chung screamed, "No brakes! No brakes! No brakes!" as her Lexus RX330 sped along the shoulder of the 10 Freeway in West Los Angeles on a deadly collision course.
Chung's luxury SUV was going nearly 80 mph when it smashed into a Mercedes sedan on the Overland Avenue exit ramp. The Lexus overturned, killing Chung's sister-in-law, Esook Synn, who was seated in the back seat. Chung and another passenger were badly injured.
A woman who said she witnessed the accident said that she could see a "look of terror" in Chung's face just moments before the Dec. 15, 2008, crash.
"They looked like they lost control of the car. The car did not look like it was decelerating at all, as if the accelerator was stuck or something," the woman wrote on the Los Angeles Fire Department website.
Chung and Synn, both Torrance residents, had been returning to work at a real estate office after having lunch at a Korean restaurant.
Synn, 69, was survived by her husband, Kyung; a son, Gordon; and a daughter, Aimee.
"It's heartbreaking for us to know how scared or terrified she must have been because of the way the accident happened. It breaks our heart," Gordon Synn said.
Synn's relatives have retained an attorney, Larry Grassini, who said he believes an electronic system malfunction caused the vehicle to accelerate while rendering the brakes useless. The Lexus RX330 is not among the models recently recalled by Toyota for problems linked to unintended acceleration.
Toyota officials analyzed data from the Lexus' "black box" and determined it was traveling 78 mph at the time of the crash, according to a report by the California Highway Patrol.
Eleven months after the crash, the Los Angeles County district attorney's office charged Chung with gross vehicular manslaughter without alcohol impairment as well as reckless driving causing injury, both felonies. Now 62, Chung faces up to six years in prison if convicted. Before the accident, she had a clean driving record, according to the CHP report.
"This case got filed and investigated before anybody knew about the problems with these Toyotas," said Richard Hutton, Chung's attorney.
"It's been hell for her," he said. "She feels bad enough that people were hurt and a relative was killed. Hopefully this case will get thrown out."
'My accelerator stuck'
Paramedics found Juanita Grossman with both feet still pressing the brake pedal.
Alert but critically injured, she said her 2003 Toyota Camry had inexplicably accelerated March 16, 2004, as she left a drive-through pharmacy, racing across a busy street and slamming into a jewelry store in Evansville, Ind.
"It was like a car on a slingshot. She was slung across the street into that building," said her son, Bill.
