Toyota Motor Corporation, a Japanese car manufacturer founded in 1937, is one of the largest conglomerates in Japan. The corporation actually produces vehicles for several brands, including Hino, Lexus, Ranz, and Daihatsu. Toyota is a pretty well known car brand in the U.S. The most popular models include the Corolla, RAV4, Camry, Land Cruiser, Supra, Yaris, and Prius. You can hardly drive down the street without seeing multiple Toyotas pass by.

Known Issues

Unfortunately, Toyota is no stranger to hiccups in its cars. From 2009-2010, Toyota had to recall millions of cars and trucks over multiple recall campaigns because of pressure from the NHTSA. The recalls were so extensive that Toyota actually had to temporarily halt all production and sales to fix the issues.

In 2012, Toyota had to recall millions of cars across the world due to malfunctions in window switches. The company dealt with more than just defects, as it also had to pay over one billion dollars as a fine for concealing information and misleading the public regarding safety recalls on its vehicles. This scandal began when Toyota and Lexus cars were accelerating unintentionally.

In 2014, the company also had to recall several cars that had defective airbags that would deploy improperly in collisions. There were over 7 million cars that had to be recalled in the U.S. alone.

You Have Rights

Toyota went through several years of extensive recalls and design defects and that does not mean that they have fixed all their problems. If you have a defect in your Toyota, you could have a lemon car. In California, lemon laws protect Toyota owners from repairing defects on their own. To learn more about whether the Lemon Laws protect you and how to go after your manufacturer, call Kaufman & Kavicky, LLP today.