In the latest round, Toyota filed papers in federal court in California asking the court to basically throw out the cases, denying that there was any real defect at all which could cause the runaway accelerator defect that the cases are based on. Toyota argued that any economic loss was speculative.
Attorneys for the consumers appear to have defeated the motion, with a "tentative" 63 page ruling from the federal court that it will reject most of the arguments Toyota is making.
As many of us may recall our parents saying when we were much younger, where there's smoke, there's fire.
The cases are grouped into two types, those with purely economic loss because the cars are allegedly worth less due to their defect history, and those where a death or injury is claimed to have resulted. All in all, Toyota recalled more than 15 million vehicles this last year for a variety of problems the company is struggling with, including over 10 million for unintended acceleration issues.
Meanwhile, the case goes on, owners still wonder and worry, and both the existence and the exact case of the defect still is being debated.