Brett A. Emison Automotive Products Liability Law Blog on Lawyers.com

Toyota Hit With Record Fine: $16.4 Million

Tuesday, April 6, 2010 by Brett A. Emison

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News outlets around the world, including the Assoc iated Press, Time Magazine, Forbes, US News & World Report and BusinessWeek have reported that US government safety regulators have hit Toyota with a record find of $16.4 million -- the maximum civil penalty allowed -- after safety regulators confirmed what I have been saying for months: Toyota hid a dangerous defect from the public and safety regulators.

To date, there have been more than 100 confirmed sudden acceleration deaths. Even if there are only 100 -- the $16.4 million fine amounts to $164,000 per death. What's your life worth? Is it worth more than $164,000? What about your spouse's life? What about your parents? What about your children's lives? Do you think it's ok for an auto company like Toyota to hide a known safety defect because it only has to pay $164,000 for every person it kills?

Ignoring the fact that Toyota knowingly hid a safety defect that killed people, let's look at the fine from a purely financial viewpoint. According to US News, Toyota made $43 billion in three years from 2006 to 2008. $16.4 million is 0.038% of Toyota's net profit during those three years. During those three years, Toyota earned an average profit of $14.333 billion per year. Toyota's "record fine" amounts to 0.11% of Toyota's average annual profit -- just barely more than one-tenth of one percent.

If Toyota was willing to lie about the "sticky" pedal problem, what else is Toyota lying about?

You can learn more at our safety blog and become a fan of Langdon & Emison on Facebook.

 
Posted at 15:00 PM
Topic: Automotive Products Liability
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