Court Orders Toyota To Pay Rs. 1,687 Crore For A Family Due To Lexus Seat Defect

2002-Lexus-ES-300

The court has asked the company to pay the two children $92 million for medical care, physical impairment, mental anguish and other damages

A Texas Jury on Friday ordered Toyota to pay $242 million (Rs. 1,687) after finding out that the front seats of a 2002 Lexus ES300 caused serious injuries to a Dallas family’s two young children during a rear end accident in 2016. After investigating the case, the jury found out that the front seats were unreasonably dangerous and the company didn’t warn of the risk.

Eric Booth, a spokesman for Toyota said that the company respects the decision of jury, but they are confident that the injuries sustained were the result of factors specific to this very collision and it is not a defect in the design or manufacturing of the 2002 Lexus ES300 as it is an one-off incident. The company hasn’t received any other complaints from customers regarding this.

But the lawyer of the family said that there were structural problems with front seats and the company has known about it. He added that the manufacturer had lots of time to correct these safety issues or publicly admit the problem, but they didn’t do that.

The court has asked the company to pay the two children $92 million for medical care, physical impairment, mental anguish and other damages. The court also awarded $144 million in punitive damages as Toyota Motor Corp. and Toyota Motor Sales were said to be negligent in the matter.

2002-Lexus-ES-300-interior

Lexus recently revealed new generation of ES300, which is based on TNGA platform and it is longer and wider than the previous model. The new model is lighter than previous iteration and to improve stability, wheels are now pushed to the corners. The design of new model is inspired from LS500 flagship sedan.

The ES300 is available with two engine options – the 3.5 L V6 engine produces 302 hp and the hybrid model powered by 2.5 L petrol engine with hybrid drive system producing 215 hp. According to Lexus, the hybrid engine delivers 22.37 kmpl and it competes against BMW 5 Series, Mercedes Benz E Class, Audi A6 and Jaguar XF.