美国有线新闻 CNN 2013-01-01

 Big news, a billion dollars worth in fact in a story, that 360 has been out in front of. Toyota today announcing a massive pay out 1.1 billion dollars to settle a class action lawsuit 1 by customers who say their Toyotas accelerated out of control. In addition to the money, Toyota agreed to modify affected 2 cars and take other action beyong that, all told more than 16 million people may be covered by the record settlement which follows a record 17-million-dollar fine, Toyota paid federal regulators ealier this month. 

The 360 has been on this from the begining, uncovering details no one else has. Back in February Drew Griffin broke the story of a documented link between the company's history of unintended acceleration 3 and Toyota software. That report highlighted an internal Toyota engineering memo 4, the company concedes it didn't provide the government investigators 5. And his story featured a Toyota customer who says she is convinced that her brand new Lexus surged ahead on it own.
"Tanya Spotts thought all of those problems with suddenly accelerating Toyotas were old news, which is ecactly why she bought the car of her dreams, this 2011 Lexus, ES350 last June."
"Did you think it was solved?"
"Oh, I thought most definitely it was solved, the federal government tested, you know, Toyota, they said it was floor mats or a sticky trod or something like that. And I believed the government."
Seven thousand miles later on the day after Christmas, she said she was pulling into a parking spot at a local mall, gently riding the brake she says when, well, take a listen.
"The car just lurched forward and hit the cement wall in front of us."
She jammed on the brake so hard she says, she strained ligaments in her foot causing massive swelling 6. And when she called her dealership 8, a salesman insisted she call a Toyota company lawyer.
"And you won't drive this again?"
"I will not drive this car again."
Toyota has never conceded an electronics or software problem could in any way be responsible for sudden acceleration in its vehicles, but Drew and producer, David Fitzpatrick obtained an internal Toyota engineering document written in Japanese with English translation, which shows that, in one instance, during preproduction testing, an electronics software problem was discovered. Toyota says it has nothing to do with unintended acceleration, other safety experts disagree. Today's agreement does not address the software angle. And Drew Griffin is here tonight. Drew, first a big settlement ealier this month, and now this, is this an admission by Toyota that they really did have such a problem with sudden unintended acceleration?
"You know, absolutely not, Randi, from the begining, Toyota mantained it doesn't have a sudden unintended acceleration problem, certainly nothing wrong with the electronic throttle 9 control system. The company said this was three things, this was stuck gas pedals, stuck floor mats, and quite frankly 10, operator error as they said was Tanya's case, they believed that she, just stepped down the gas instead of the brake. So then, what's this settlement is all about, right? Why settle?"
Here is what Toyota's US legal officer said in a statement today, "this was a difficult decision, especially since reliable scientific evidence and mutiple independent evaluations 11 have confirmed the safety of Toyota's electronic throttle control systems. However, we concluded that turning the page on this legacy 12 legal issue through the positive steps that we're taking is in the best interest of the company, our employees, our dealers 7 and most of all, Randi, our customers. The fact is these court trials were begining to creep up on Toyota. A lot of lawyers asking for a lot of documents and depositions 13. This settlement keeps all those records out of the public, just like those the record that we found on AC 360 this past February. So it is a way that Toyota says, we're gonna put this all behind us and we're gonna keep all of our secrets out of the court.
"So, Drew, who gets the money from this settlement?"
"It really is huge, Randi, the bulk of the money, according to Toyota, is going to go directly to the customers past and presence, and that will include a brake override 14 system for all the vehicles that were identified by Toyota as having a problem with floor mats getting stuck. For Toyota owners like Tanya who actually sold their cars during the crisis when sales and the values of owners' car plummeted 15. Toyota set aside 250 million dollars to compensate 16 owners for the loss. There is gonna be a separate 250 million dollars to compensate owners who don't qualify for that brake override system. And finally, all 16 million current Toyota owners are gonna be eligible 17 for this warranty 18 of what Toyota says is a certain parts related to sudden, unintended acceleration, the warranties 19 go from 3 to 10 years."
"And I think clearly the intend here, Randi, it to turn the page, just like Toyota said, put this legacy, legal issue behind the company. Sales are up, sales are good, the company can afford it, they're hoping this really just puts all the sudden unintended acceleration in the past."
"All right, Drew, thanks for very mcuh."