Some Toyota Owners File Lawsuit To Get a Full Refund

All of which proves two things:

1. Whenever someone says, "It's not the money, it's the principle.", you can be 100% certain that it's ALL about the money.
2. There is nothing more dangerous than a hungry attorney.

"Yeah, good luck with that one. Idiots."

Ouch, whats up with that?

"asking a judge to award them complete refunds for their cars. "

If it's really about principal, you should be willing to take the depreciated (retail) value of the vehicle. Instead, you want to have used the vehicle for free? Where's Judge Judy when we need her?

+1 to brn

That attorney obviously sucks ass at math and economics. Asking for a full refund would mean that the toyota owners want the value of the car now + punishment damages against toyota for letting them drive, for however long, a perfectly fine car they chose when they decided to buy the car. Yeah, good luck with that one. Idiots.

Lesson here: Live with your F***ing decisions. P***ies.

My biggest problem with this crap is that there are probably people with actual problems that gets grouped into with these D-bags.... who?? We will never know. Only D-bags and B****es make a show for the media to watch.

@CR_Driver: You're just now noticing Ed's horribly inappropriate and haughty attitude and obsession with defending Toyota at all costs?

I miss the days of Bob Holland doing this blog. If I wanted mindless Toyota worshiping I'd go elsewhere in the automotive or mainstream media media, and if I wanted to hear wording like Ed's I'd skip the real media entirely and go read some informal blog.

Oh, and market value for Toyotas probably took quite a hit due to the products killing people and the company lying about it. I'd say Toyota owners experienced some economic loss. I do tend to agree that these people shouldn't get that money though. About time Toyota owners are confronted with the fact that their cars are just like everybody else's, but extra boring.

This is great stuff. Toyota and their syncophants in the media (like Ed "I worship imports" Hellwig) are now essentially calling Toyota owners idiots who lie and can't drive. I grew up in an American where buying a TOyota made you smart, pragmatic and value conscious. Now the media has turned on Toyota owners in a quest to defend the honor of Toyota. It's a total 180 from what we've been hearing all these years. Until recently, Toyota owners were amongts the smartest car buyers on the market. The kind of people who know quality when they see it and consult CR before every car purchase. Now they are being attacked by every major online car publication. Motortrend.com has put up numerous stories calling these SUA incidents a hoax and inferring the Toyota owners are stupid attention seekers who don't even understand how to drive. It seem IL is desperate to prove its even more loyal to Toyota than Motortrend with a constant barrage of posts trying to discredit anyone who criticizes Toyota. Its pathetic.

And the real truth is coming out. It's all about the money. I'm not saying there is not a problem with some of the cars that toyota have recalled but asking for a full refund of a vehicle??? I agree with Ed good luck with that.

How about a full refund, minus 30 cents per mile for the use of the car? That's what happens if the financing falls through on many new car deals. Let's see, a 2007 Camry purchased for $22,000, minus mileage (30k miles at 30c/mile), yields a $13,000 refund.

Sounds about right to me.

:-)

"If I wanted mindless Toyota worshiping I'd go elsewhere in the automotive or mainstream media media, and if I wanted to hear wording like Ed's I'd skip the real media entirely and go read some informal blog."

If I wanted mindless accusations I'd...oh wait you already post that...

"mindless" aptly describes the daily pro-Toyota posts on Straightline.

Am I missing something here? Can't Toyota and these opportunists BOTH be lame?

lawyers are more opportunistic than dogs. that aside, there's definately something rotten in the state of denmark.

jederino +1

jederino: "Can't Toyota and these opportunists BOTH be lame?"

Exactly. Why must Edmunds have an attitude that it's one or the other?

Every time there's a scandal, there will b e opportunists. That doesn't invalidate the scandal.

@ Jederino - OK, deal. I think that is a middle ground I'm perfectly fine with.

and

Stephen987's proposal actually sounds really sensible. That would account for normal depreciation but refund the depreciation caused by mistrust of Toyota products. That might actually be acceptable.

And on brn's note, I'm annoyed that the media made Sikes the poster boy for this whole thing, both when it looked bad for Toyota and when he turned out to be a fraud. One case good or bad does not define a larger trend. Responsible reporting would take into account both the large amount of legitimate cases and the cases of fraud.

"Stephen987's proposal actually sounds really sensible. "

It was actually meant to be satirical. $13k is pretty much TMV for that hypothetical Camry.

Right, so we could call that normal depreciation, and if TMV falls below that, well we'll just call that catastrophic loss from the Toyota problems and if it really does get that back, well then they're compensated. Otherwise they just take the same depreciation hit that people who buy cars from the "mere mortal" makes (opposed to the god-like status Toyota once enjoyed) and will have to get used to it. Meant as satire or not, it seems very fair to have a set "normal" depreciation amount that enjoys precedent. Your number isn't arbitrary, so I like it.

I'm not sure where the Ed bashing is coming from. I like his wit and the fact that he pulls no punches. Also I don't get the impression that he is defending Toyota so much as he is disdaining morons. And really, do morons deserve any less?

Calling someone an idiot passes for wit these days? Now that is the truly sad thing to come out of this blog.

It's not wit, it's the truth.

"I'm not sure where the Ed bashing is coming from. I like his wit and the fact that he pulls no punches. Also I don't get the impression that he is defending Toyota so much as he is disdaining morons."

1. He's not even funny
2. This is supposed to be a semi respectable car site, not some fly by night blog run by a snarky college drop out from his basement
3. Half of what he posts is moronic.

Toyota is wrong, some of the owners are wrong and the idiotic pro Toyota sentiment that is bubbling up amongst the self righteous who write auto blogs is wrong.

"It's not wit, it's the truth."

According to whom? The idiots are the ones at Toyota who didnt get a handle on this problem early on before it spiraled out of control. As numerous intelligent people have said, the lack of emergency driving skills of Toyota owners does not change the fact that there is some sort of problem.

I think that the Sikes thing is a total hoax. period. I also think that some folks will try an rape Toyota over all of this..(what comes around goes around).....but I also think that wanting money back for a crappy car does not make one an "idiot" I think that maybe getting the bluebook value would be fair. Giant corporations are nobodys friends and dont care about anything but money (I don't have a problem with that BTW) and that is just the way it is. So if anybody defends
Toyota or feels sorry for them, they are the "idiot".

1487, you are right on the money and I could not have said it better.

It's a shame that Toyota can't sue individuals that end up having unfounded cases. Just to get their legal fees back. That would keep everyone honest, no?

1487 - Most of what you said above is completely subjective. I personally do think Ed is funny. And witty. And snarky, yes. But I think snarky is funny, especially when its done right. And in my opinion Ed often does it right.

You'll notice how I'm qualifying these statements with little personal modifiers like "I" rather than trumpeting my opinion in a very overbearing tone so as to pass it off as some sort of universal truth. So often, dude, you're not right you're just massively opinionated.

"It's a shame that Toyota can't sue individuals that end up having unfounded cases. Just to get their legal fees back. That would keep everyone honest, no?"

NO It would keep people from suing for even a legit reason because they would be afraid of losing and being sued themselves. Who do you think could afford the best lawyers.....the little guy or a multi-billion dollar company? Make no mistake, America is sue-happy but that is just a side effect of having a free and open society that strives to keep things equal. It is not perfect but it is the best. Toyota and other Japanese companies have destroyed several American industries in the past few decades with government subsidized products and almost have done the same thing to the Auto industry. Let the chips fall where they might and maybe Karma means something after all. It is about time all of the toyota-bots realize just what toyota really is......a mega corporation that wants to make all of the money it can........not some eco-friendly friend of the little consumer and defender of the planet. I hope they get nailed and humbled and I hope Americans and American auto mags open their eyes and get their lips off of toyota's corporate ass. It is disgusting.