From: john on
Alberto, a 77-year-old General Motors Co. retiree from Flint, died in
April 2008 after her Camry sped and hit two trees although she
"vigorously and desperately" applied her brakes, according to the
lawsuit filed in Genesee County Circuit Court by Lilia Alberto, a
representative of her estate.

Alberto's Camry had no floor mat on the driver's side, the lawyers
said in the lawsuit.

Federal regulators and Toyota Motor Corp. are discussing whether the
automaker needs to fix gas pedals or floor pans in millions of
recalled vehicles instead of blaming floor mats, which the automaker
had maintained was the source of unintended acceleration cases.

Full article at:
http://www.freep.com/article/20091118/BUSINESS01/911180370/Toyota-looking-beyond-the-mats
From: Scott Dorsey on
john <johngdole(a)hotmail.com> wrote:
>Alberto, a 77-year-old General Motors Co. retiree from Flint, died in
>April 2008 after her Camry sped and hit two trees although she
>"vigorously and desperately" applied her brakes, according to the
>lawsuit filed in Genesee County Circuit Court by Lilia Alberto, a
>representative of her estate.

Wait, wait.... this is a GM retiree who owns a Toyota?
I don't know WHAT that says but it sure doesn't sound good for the
US auto industry.
--scott

--
"C'est un Nagra. C'est suisse, et tres, tres precis."
From: C. E. White on

"john" <johngdole(a)hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:f99ee0b9-1313-455e-9d2c-8cb3cbaec320(a)j9g2000prh.googlegroups.com...
> Alberto, a 77-year-old General Motors Co. retiree from Flint, died
> in
> April 2008 after her Camry sped and hit two trees although she
> "vigorously and desperately" applied her brakes, according to the
> lawsuit filed in Genesee County Circuit Court by Lilia Alberto, a
> representative of her estate.

How do they know she "vigorously and desperately" applied her brakes
if she diesd in the crash? Sounds like another case of pedal confusion
to me.

Ed

>
> Alberto's Camry had no floor mat on the driver's side, the lawyers
> said in the lawsuit.
>
> Federal regulators and Toyota Motor Corp. are discussing whether the
> automaker needs to fix gas pedals or floor pans in millions of
> recalled vehicles instead of blaming floor mats, which the automaker
> had maintained was the source of unintended acceleration cases.
>
> Full article at:
> http://www.freep.com/article/20091118/BUSINESS01/911180370/Toyota-looking-beyond-the-mats


From: Vic Smith on
On 20 Nov 2009 06:57:06 -0500, kludge(a)panix.com (Scott Dorsey) wrote:

>john <johngdole(a)hotmail.com> wrote:
>>Alberto, a 77-year-old General Motors Co. retiree from Flint, died in
>>April 2008 after her Camry sped and hit two trees although she
>>"vigorously and desperately" applied her brakes, according to the
>>lawsuit filed in Genesee County Circuit Court by Lilia Alberto, a
>>representative of her estate.
>
>Wait, wait.... this is a GM retiree who owns a Toyota?
>I don't know WHAT that says but it sure doesn't sound good for the
>US auto industry.

The "poetic justice" part didn't do too well for her either.
Karma with a vengeance.

--Vic

From: jim on


"C. E. White" wrote:
>
> "john" <johngdole(a)hotmail.com> wrote in message
> news:f99ee0b9-1313-455e-9d2c-8cb3cbaec320(a)j9g2000prh.googlegroups.com...
> > Alberto, a 77-year-old General Motors Co. retiree from Flint, died
> > in
> > April 2008 after her Camry sped and hit two trees although she
> > "vigorously and desperately" applied her brakes, according to the
> > lawsuit filed in Genesee County Circuit Court by Lilia Alberto, a
> > representative of her estate.
>
> How do they know she "vigorously and desperately" applied her brakes
> if she diesd in the crash? Sounds like another case of pedal confusion
> to me.

I would think it would be fairly easy to tell if the pads and rotors had
been heated beyond the point where they no longer can stop the vehicle.
This is something that has been observed in vehicles (usually trucks)
that have brake failure on long steep downhill grades. If the rotors
have turned blue I'd say that is pretty good evidence the brakes were
applied vigorously and desperately.
-jim

>
> Ed
>
> >
> > Alberto's Camry had no floor mat on the driver's side, the lawyers
> > said in the lawsuit.
> >
> > Federal regulators and Toyota Motor Corp. are discussing whether the
> > automaker needs to fix gas pedals or floor pans in millions of
> > recalled vehicles instead of blaming floor mats, which the automaker
> > had maintained was the source of unintended acceleration cases.
> >
> > Full article at:
> > http://www.freep.com/article/20091118/BUSINESS01/911180370/Toyota-looking-beyond-the-mats