Lawsuit: Toyota Hid, Still Has No Fix for Sienna Power Sliding Door Defect

New to ClassAction.org? Read our Newswire Disclaimer

A proposed class action filed in Connecticut alleges Toyota, despite knowing about a serious defect in some 2011 through 2016 model year Toyota Sienna minivans that could allow the vehicles’ rear passenger power sliding doors to “unexpectedly and independently” open while the car is in motion, failed to notify consumers in a timely manner about this problem and, worse, continued to manufacture, sell, lease and warrant the vehicles “without disclosing that the power sliding doors were inherently defective, dangerous and created a grave risk of bodily harm.”

Labeling the automaker’s alleged conduct as “particularly egregious,” the 71-page complaint alleges that prior to a December 2016 safety recall notice that affected roughly 744,000 Sienna minivans (in which Toyota reportedly admitted it did not have a ‘fix’ for the sliding door defect), the defendant marketed its Sienna minivans primarily to families with children while charging a premium for its essentially broken and unsafe power sliding door feature. Now, more than six months after that first safety recall notice, Toyota is still scratching its head over the defect while leaving consumers and their children at serious risk, the lawsuit claims.

“More than six months later, Toyota still has not notified owners/lessees of the class vehicles that it has a remedy for the defective doors,” the lawsuit reads. “Toyota has thus put consumers in the position of having to choose between driving their Sienna minivans with dangerously defective sliding doors or, in order to keep occupants safe, disabling the power doors for which they paid a premium.”