Toyota Hit with Another Class Action Over Alleged Phone System Echo Defect

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Toyota faces another proposed class action that alleges the hands-free Bluetooth phone system in certain vehicle models suffers from a defect that can cause the person on the other end of a call to hear an echo of their own words. 

The 66-page complaint mirrors a suit filed against the automaker in April that claimed the apparent echo defect, which supposedly stems from faulty “head unit” hardware and/or software, makes phone conversations “impossible to maintain,” and that drivers have bought or leased vehicles with “virtually unusable hands-free phone systems.” 

Per the complaint, defendants Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A.; Toyota Motor North America and Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing North America have known of the alleged echo defect since at least 2007 and been “repeatedly notified” of the issue within the last five years, evidenced in part, according to the suit, by “Tech Tips” issued to dealers from 2017 through 2020. Nevertheless, Toyota has failed to notify drivers of the phone-system echo issue prior to their purchase or lease of affected vehicles, the lawsuit alleges. 

According to the filing, vehicle models from the last 10 years may exhibit the Bluetooth echo problem, including the: 

• Toyota Tundra;
• Toyota 4Runner;
• Toyota Avalon;
• Toyota Avalon HV;
• Toyota Camry;
• Toyota Camry HV;
• Toyota Highlander;
• Toyota Highlander HV;
• Toyota Prius;
• Toyota Prius V;
• Toyota Sequoia;
• Toyota Sienna;
• Toyota Tacoma; and
• Toyota Yaris. 

The complaint highlights that statements made by Toyota in the affected vehicles’ ownership manuals seemingly indicate its knowledge of the existence of an echo issue affecting the cars’ hands-free phone systems. The suit contends that Toyota “could not have made the statements” in its ownership manuals had it not known about the defect at the time of their publication. From the complaint: 

“For example, the 2008 Toyota Highlander Owner’s Manual has a section entitled, ‘Using the hands-free phone system (for cellular phone)/Hands-free phone system (for cellular phone) features,’ and a subsection entitled, ‘when using the hands-free system.’ In that subsection, Toyota states: ‘If the received call volume is overly loud, an echo may be heard.’ In the same section under a subsection entitled, ‘When talking on the phone,’ Toyota states, ‘Keep the volume of the receiving voice down. Otherwise, voice echo will increase.’ Because Toyota states that ‘voice echo will increase,’ rather than ‘voice echo will occur,’ Toyota acknowledges that voice echo is inherent in the system.” 

Per the suit, each of the above-listed vehicles’ owners’ manuals acknowledges that there might be an echo in calls made through the Bluetooth system. At the time of purchase or lease, however, Toyota did not inform consumers that the “voice echo” is actually experienced by the person calling the driver, and not the driver of the vehicle, much less acknowledge the severity of the echo or that no adequate solution exists for the issue, the lawsuit alleges. 

The suit goes on to mention that Toyota modified its Bluetooth technology in the affected models starting with certain 2019 models and in all 2020 models, swapping in Apple CarPlay hardware and software that reportedly does not exhibit an echo. Despite this, the alleged echoing problem in older Toyota vehicles has not been addressed by the automaker, the case says. 

The lawsuit looks to represent Florida residents who, within the applicable limitations period, bought or leased any of the Toyota vehicle models listed above that (a) have a Bluetooth hands-free system; (b) were not initially equipped with Apple CarPlay; and (c) have not had a head unit replaced at Toyota’s expense. 

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