Toyota apologized to US, Europe but ignoring us in Kuwait: Al-Harbi
Kuwait: Toyota announced recently that it would recall the company’s flagship Prius hybrid cars worldwide. The company president, Akio Toyoda, followed the announcement with a worldwide apology. A Kuwaiti lawyer is suing the company, as well as the local agent and the Ministries of Interior and of Commerce and Industry, over the 2007 Aurion model.
In January 2010, the automaker had announced that it would recall more than eight million cars globally to resolve a widespread problem with unintended acceleration. Kuwaiti customers of Toyota cars opted for a local solution to the problem – they sued the company, the local agent, the Ministries of Interior and Commerce and Industry and the Chamber of Commerce.
Kuwaiti lawyer Ruwaishid Saad Al-Harbi told Al Watan that he is suing the company, as well as the local agent and the Ministries of Interior and of Commerce and Industry, over the 2007 Aurion model. Al-Harbi revealed that a lawsuit was filed in November 2009 by a citizen who suffered from serious spinal injuries after the driver had an accident. The driver was wearing his seatbelt but the airbag failed to deploy and protect the driver. A technical report provided by the Experts Department at the Ministry of Justice attributed the spinal injury to the failure of the airbag. Al-Harbi provided x-ray copies of the spinal injury.
Al-Harbi said that Al Watan published, in February 2010, a public apology made by Toyoda to the Europeans and Americans and then a week later Toyota admitted before the American Congress that an increase in production was made at the expense of security. Toyoda accepted full responsibility and burst out crying apologizing to the American people. A couple of days later, Toyoda apologized to the Chinese over recalling Toyota cars.
Al-Harbi added that Toyota and its agent in Kuwait had deliberately ignored the problems in Aurion model. The SRS system which should function in time of accident to protect driver from fatal and serious injuries failed to do so. "The driver who suffered serious spinal injuries has sued the company for a half million Kuwaiti dinars and the court hearing is set for March 30," he remarked.
Al-Harbi added, "Initially we kept the matter away from the public in order to deal with it fairly and squarely. We were awaiting a proper public announcement that 2007 Aurion model suffers from serious SRS failure. But all of the sudden, they published in the first page of one of the local newspapers that the only malfunctions are in the Avalon and Sequoia models and that such failure is due to frosty weather in the US and Europe. They added that after a careful study it turned out that such failure is unlikely in the Middle East considering the hot climate."
"If Toyota and its local agent claim to be transparent and claim that they care about people’’s safety, then how come they never recalled the Aurion model after the serious failure in the SRS system that had been reported and properly documented by the Experts Department’’s document no. 591/2009- Is it because the lives of Americans, Europeans and Chinese are more precious than Kuwaitis and expatriates in Kuwait-" he asked.
Al-Harbi stressed that the company should admit their mistake to Kuwaitis and expats alike and recall all 2007 Aurion cars before further accidents take place. He went on to say that within the next 24 hours he would proceed with a lawsuit against the company, the local agent, Ministry of Commerce and Industry as well as the Ministry of Interior and demand the immediate recall of the Aurion 2007 model as well as suspending licenses for this model.
