Rescue workers extracted Berg, 79, and her husband, Kenneth Berg, 85, from the badly damaged vehicle but both died that night at a Houston hospital. Investigators were unable to determine a cause of the accident.
In February, the driver's son, Kenneth Hall, filed suit against Toyota, its electronic throttle supplier, the League City, Texas, dealership that sold the car and the regional distributor. The suit alleges negligence and wrongful death, and seeks $100 million in damages.
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Date: March 1, 2009
Victims: Adegoke Aladegbemi, Adeolu Julianna Aladegbemi
Location: Marietta, Ga.
Model: 2005 Toyota Camry
Details: Cobb County, Ga., police have been unable to explain the crash that took the lives of a Nigerian immigrant from Sandy Springs, Ga., and his 6-year-old daughter.
Their Toyota had run a stop sign at a T-intersection in a Marietta office park and plunged into an ornamental pond, police reported. Adegoke Aladegbemi, 57, and Adeolu Julianna Aladegbemi, 6, were still alive but unconscious when firefighters pulled them from the submerged Camry. The pair were pronounced dead upon arrival at a nearby hospital.
The car was owned by the Nigerian Consulate in Atlanta, where Aladegbemi had worked as a driver for diplomats visiting from his native country. A consular official confirmed the chancellery had filed a complaint with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, but declined to discuss further details about the accident
The 2005 Camry is not included in the recent Toyota recalls.
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Date: March 9, 2009
Victim: Jose Madrigal
Location: Downey
Model: 2009 Toyota Corolla
Details: Jose Madrigal, a Mexican immigrant and devoted Catholic, made the sign of the cross each time he took a drive.
"My father was not very comfortable getting in a car," Adelina Aguilera, his daughter, said recently.
On March 9, 2009, Madrigal was a passenger in a 2009 Corolla driven by his wife of 50 years, Adelina Madrigal.
His wife said she was driving on Florence Avenue when the car suddenly accelerated, even as she applied pressure to the brakes. Trying to avoid approaching cars, she swerved onto the wrong side of the road, struck a car and then crashed into a concrete wall beneath the 605 Freeway.
Jose Madrigal, 89, was critically injured. He died March 25 from internal injuries.
"My dad was in wonderful health. He still mowed the lawn, had a great appetite, was very active," Aguilar said. "I expected to have my father around for a long, long time."
Downey Police Officer Sean Penrose did not believe Adelina Madrigal's account of the accident. He issued the 71-year-old woman a ticket for speeding and wrote in his report that she must have applied the gas pedal instead of the brakes.
On April 15, three weeks after her husband's death, she paid a fine for speeding and the case was closed, according to Department of Motor Vehicles records. It was the first ticket Madrigal ever received, her daughter said.
In January, Toyota issued a recall notice for several of its models, including the 2009 Corolla, saying a gas-pedal defect could cause the vehicle to unexpectedly accelerate.
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Date: April 10, 2009
Victim: Unknown
Location: Unknown; complaint filed from Fort Meade, Md.
Model: 2006 Lexus IS250
Details: After experiencing sudden acceleration up to 90 mph, a 2006 Lexus IS250 owner attempted to remove the floor mat, he said in a complaint filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in December from Fort Meade, Md.
The vehicle veered off the road, rolled over and landed in a ditch, ejecting one unrestrained passenger who died, the complaint said. Three other occupants experienced bruises and lacerations serious enough to send them to the hospital.
Maryland State Police reported three fatal accidents in the state on that date, but none involving a Lexus.
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Date: May 27, 2009
Victim: Unknown
Location: Unknown; complaint filed from Austin, Texas
Model: 2007 Toyota Camry
Details: The driver of a 2007 Camry crashed on the way to the hospital, reaching speeds of up to 100 mph in an area with a posted speed limit of 40 mph, according to a complaint filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
The accident killed the driver, who was known to have bipolar disorder, but who was not known to have suicidal tendencies or a history or reckless driving, according to the complaint.
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Date: Aug. 4, 2009
Victim: Unknown
Location: Unknown; complaint filed from Copiague, N.Y.
Model: 2005 Toyota Camry
Details: A 2005 Camry owner reported that her son-in-law was killed in a crash and that police said the vehicle had been traveling at high speed just before the collision, according to a complaint filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The owner alleged that the accident was caused by sudden unintended acceleration.
