Toyota is entangled in a legal dispute surrounding a tragic incident involving the death of Lee Griffin due to carbon monoxide poisoning after his vehicle was left running in a closed garage.
Caroline Griffin, the widow of Lee Griffin, has initiated a lawsuit against the automobile manufacturer, alleging that the company was aware of the dangers associated with its vehicles continuing to run after the key fob had been removed.
In a recent court proceeding, Toyota requested the judge to dismiss several claims regarding its responsibility to warn consumers about the danger posed by not having an automatic engine shut-off system.
However, Judge Thrash ruled that many aspects of the case remain contentious and should ultimately be decided by a jury.
“Just because running a car in a garage is an open and obvious danger does not mean that it is open and obvious that a car will continue to run and emit carbon monoxide after the key is taken out of the vehicle,” he stated.
During the proceedings, Lee Griffin had moved his Toyota Tacoma out of the garage on July 4, 2022, to access his lawn mower.
While mowing his lawn, it is believed that he had earbuds in, listening to music.
After completing the lawn work, he moved the Tacoma back into the garage, unaware that the car was still running and producing dangerous carbon monoxide fumes.
The Tacoma was designed to emit a beeping sound three times as part of its safety feature when the driver parked it, left the engine running, closed the door, and exited with the key fob.
According to the judge, Lee Griffin had a hearing deficiency, which likely contributed to him not hearing the beeping, making him oblivious to the car’s running status.
In her legal action filed in 2023, Caroline Griffin claimed that before her husband’s death, Toyota was aware of at least 16 other incidents where similar circumstances led to fatal outcomes from carbon monoxide buildup in enclosed spaces.
She alleged, “Toyota has known about this deadly danger since at least 2006—more than 15 years before Mr. Griffin’s death.
Despite knowing that this defect was killing Americans, Toyota did nothing and warned no one.”
In contrast, Toyota’s legal representatives contended that the company had no obligation to alert consumers about the risks of carbon monoxide poisoning associated with leaving cars running in garages, highlighting that such risks are widely recognized.
Furthermore, Toyota asserted that Caroline Griffin failed to establish a link between the Tacoma’s warning system and her husband’s demise, stating, “Plaintiff has no evidence to demonstrate that a different written, audible, or visual alert would have caused the decedent to shut off the Tacoma’s engine at the time of the subject incident.”
The judge’s order acknowledged that Toyota had adhered to all relevant government and industry standards, a point that Caroline Griffin did not dispute.
Additionally, the order referenced a spreadsheet from a separate case that detailed 117 instances where individuals reported or claimed they exited a Toyota vehicle with the key fob, only to have the engine continue running.
The judge noted, “In several incidents, the running car caused injuries and/or fatalities from carbon monoxide poisoning, much like what occurred here.”
He concluded that a jury might determine that Toyota was aware of the defect prior to the purchase of the vehicle and that it willfully ignored the potential hazards associated with it.
At this phase, a trial date for the case has not yet been established.
image source from：ajc
