In the Wake of Local Accident and Nationwide Recalls Schumer Calls on Toyota to Cooperate With Harrison PD's Investigation into Prius Crash - Toyota has so Far not been Helpful
Press Release
Today, U.S. Senator Charles E. Schumer publicly pushed top Toyota officials to cooperate fully in the investigation of a local crash involving a Prius with a potentially stuck gas pedal. Schumer said that Toyota should immediately cooperate and provide all information requested by the Harrison police department. He also unveiled his legislation that will protect New York consumers from buying products that are under recall or that are known to the seller to be dangerous. Schumer said that countless New Yorkers could have purchased Toyotas, Honda, and many other products that were under recall but under current law the seller was not obligated to tell the buyer that the car was subject to a recall or in need of repair. Schumer's legislation would require the seller to notify the purchaser up front and would create a first ever list of all products subject to recall to make it easy for New York consumers to know what products may be dangerous.
"It's time for Toyota to work in good faith with the Harrison police department and turn over the information that the investigators need to get to the bottom of this accident," Schumer said. "This is about basic fairness. If a person goes out to buy a product they have the right to know all the facts. If a product is being recalled then the information should be readily available for consumers as well, and that's what I'm going to fight to make happen."
On September 29, Toyota announced its first voluntary recall 3.8 million Toyota cars due to an accelerator problem. However, since this was a voluntary recall, the company and its dealers were not required to tell a potential car buyer before they made the purchase. On January 21, Toyota announced another recall of 4.2 million cars.
After hearing reports of problems with Toyota automobiles, a Westchester women drove her employer's Toyota Prius to the local dealership, as she was leaving to the dealership it appears the car accelerated without prompting and crashed into a stone wall. Since the accident, the Harrison Police Department has requested pieces of information from Toyota in order to properly investigate the women's claims and make a final determination.
Until last night, after pressure from Harrison Police Captain Marraccini, Congresswoman Lowey, and Schumer's office started making inquires, Toyota had refused to turn over the information that the police department needs to complete a full investigation. Now Toyota has agreed to send a technician to look at the car, and Schumer is pressing Toyota to turn over all information they obtain. The Harrison Police have specifically asked for data stored on the car's "black box," which is similar to the black boxes that are examined when a plane crashes. These so-called black boxes contain vital information that allow investigators to determine the actual cause of an accident. Schumer is asking Toyota to work in good faith with the Harrison police department and turn over the information necessary for them to complete their investigation locally and give greater insight into what went wrong with this vehicle.
Schumer's recall legislation would also work to mitigate the current dispute between the police department and Toyota in the future. If this legislation is enacted into law then the woman who got into the accident would have had the chance to find out if her car was recalled before traveling to the dealership. Under current federal rules, dealers are not required to warn or disclose possible problems to unknowing customers even after the recall was announced. Dealers are allowed to sell and lease cars up until a stop-sell order, which is a prohibition on the future sale of a product, is imposed either by the company or the government.
Schumer's legislation will require any store or company selling any product to inform a consumer up front if the item they are about to buy is under a recall. Schumer said his bill will designate withholding this information an unfair trade practice enforceable by the FTC and making the company subject to federal fines and penalties. This will stop both new and used sellers from selling products.
Schumer's bill will also create a first-ever easily-searchable master list of products that are under voluntary and mandatory recall. Right now, the government's main website, recalls.gov, provides information based on the agency that regulates a certain product making it difficult to navigate.
Schumer added, "All, we're asking for from Toyota is transparency. They've acknowledged a problem with their cars but they haven't been forthcoming in providing the information. It's time for that to end and it should end now."
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