Judge dismisses lawsuit against Toyota over wiring eaten by rats
07-05-18, 12:57 PM
#1
Judge dismisses lawsuit against Toyota over wiring eaten by rats
(did we have a thread for this? If so please post the link and I will merge, thanks)
Source
At issue is soy-based insulation surrounding engine wiring
Toyota may have made engine wiring that is irresistibly delicious to rats, but a class-action lawsuit by owners seeking redress after the rodents chewed through them is dead.
A federal judge in California last month granted motions from Toyota Motor Sales, USA to dismiss the lawsuit, which sought to get the automaker to cover the cost of repairs under warranty. The Detroit Free Press reports the suit was dismissed without leave to amend, meaning it can't be refiled.
Owners of Toyota vehicles from model years 2012 to 2016 had said rodents were eating through soy-based insulation used on engine wiring, necessitating costly repairs. Albert Heber of Indiana originally filed suit, claiming that rats had chewed through the wiring insulation on his 2012 Tundra three times, leading to repairs totaling $1,500. Honda faced a similar lawsuit by the plaintiffs that was also dismissed.
"Toyota apparently isn't willing to fix this defect or compensate customers who have paid significant amounts of money to mechanics to repair damage cause by rats," Brian Kabateck, co-lead attorney for the plaintiffs, told the Free Press. "People purchased these vehicles because they believed they were buying a reliable product, but Toyota refuses to acknowledge this problem even exists — or cover the damage under its warranty program."
Toyota called the claims "meritless" and has previously said that rodent damage to vehicle wiring was widespread across the industry and vehicle brands and that it knew of no evidence that proves rodents are attracted to soy-based automotive wiring insulation.
The Free Press reports there were 21 plaintiffs in the fourth amended complaint in the lawsuit, but the judge dismissed several of their claims and declined to let them amend their claims a fifth time.
A federal judge in California last month granted motions from Toyota Motor Sales, USA to dismiss the lawsuit, which sought to get the automaker to cover the cost of repairs under warranty. The Detroit Free Press reports the suit was dismissed without leave to amend, meaning it can't be refiled.
Owners of Toyota vehicles from model years 2012 to 2016 had said rodents were eating through soy-based insulation used on engine wiring, necessitating costly repairs. Albert Heber of Indiana originally filed suit, claiming that rats had chewed through the wiring insulation on his 2012 Tundra three times, leading to repairs totaling $1,500. Honda faced a similar lawsuit by the plaintiffs that was also dismissed.
"Toyota apparently isn't willing to fix this defect or compensate customers who have paid significant amounts of money to mechanics to repair damage cause by rats," Brian Kabateck, co-lead attorney for the plaintiffs, told the Free Press. "People purchased these vehicles because they believed they were buying a reliable product, but Toyota refuses to acknowledge this problem even exists — or cover the damage under its warranty program."
Toyota called the claims "meritless" and has previously said that rodent damage to vehicle wiring was widespread across the industry and vehicle brands and that it knew of no evidence that proves rodents are attracted to soy-based automotive wiring insulation.
The Free Press reports there were 21 plaintiffs in the fourth amended complaint in the lawsuit, but the judge dismissed several of their claims and declined to let them amend their claims a fifth time.
07-05-18, 04:45 PM
#3
****ing grubby *** greedy lawyers filing frivolous lawsuits.
My suggestion to these folks. Hire an exterminator. Set up traps for squirrels and chipmunks. Shoot them varmits, do what you have to do.
My suggestion to these folks. Hire an exterminator. Set up traps for squirrels and chipmunks. Shoot them varmits, do what you have to do.
07-05-18, 05:07 PM
#4
07-05-18, 05:30 PM
#5
Lexus Fanatic
Come on, Aron. I can understand doing that with rats, as they are filthy and carry every disease in the book. (Jack-Russell Terriers, BTW, love to go after them...they are notorious rat-killers). But squirrels and chipmunks are a different story....they are simply God's gentle little creatures that live on seeds and nuts, don't attack the wiring in vehicles, and, in general, just mind their own business and stock their nests. I find chipmunks to be adorable....got a few of them living just outside my house, in the bushes....along with some squirrels in the trees.
Last edited by mmarshall; 07-05-18 at 05:33 PM.
07-05-18, 06:42 PM
#6
Come on, Aron. I can understand doing that with rats, as they are filthy and carry every disease in the book. (Jack-Russell Terriers, BTW, love to go after them...they are notorious rat-killers). But squirrels and chipmunks are a different story....they are simply God's gentle little creatures that live on seeds and nuts, don't attack the wiring in vehicles, and, in general, just mind their own business and stock their nests. I find chipmunks to be adorable....got a few of them living just outside my house, in the bushes....along with some squirrels in the trees.
Go tell my dad that. He has an extra car he keeps outside in the driveway(our family's old 2000 Avalon), sometimes it doesn't get driven for a week or two. A squirrel took a ride on the serpentine belt one day, destroyed the belt and well you can imagine the mess. He texted me a photo, looks like the squirrel strapped some illegal firecrackers to its belly and yelled allahu akbar. Total horror show. Dad fixed it himself and cleaned up the mess.
Then a few months later there was a chipmunk who had a hole near the driveway. We kept smelling a gaseous odor in that car, then it started leaking fuel if you parked it on a hill. Turns out the chipmunk built a nest on top of the gas tank and chewed through a fuel line or maybe it was a line for the evap system, I can't remember. Ended up being a several hundred dollar repair, had to drop the gas tank out of the car.
I've also had a squirrel or chipmunk chew on the rubber fuel line on my old truck, once again this was a 2nd vehicle that sat for weeks at a time between use. There are no rats where I live, so it was definitely one of those cute rodents. It was a rubber line that came up from under the firewall to the fuel injection rail, he almost chewed all the way through it before I noticed it and replaced it. If that hose had failed(fuel injected vehicle, lots of PSI thru that line), I have no doubt it would have squirted gas all over the exhaust manifold. That thing was such a piece of junk I did carry a fire extinguisher in it though.
Last edited by Aron9000; 07-05-18 at 06:46 PM.
07-05-18, 07:22 PM
#7
Lexus Fanatic
Having a different experience with those creatures in my area is not necessarily being naive.
Well, I can't vouch for conditions at your dad's house....perhaps so. I know what I've seen where I've lived, for decades. We've never had squirrels or chipmunks do anything like that in my neighborhood....though they have been known to get into people's attics from the outside.
With a chipmunk's diminutive size, if it actually chews into a fuel line and ingests any gasoline (or vapors) it wouldn't take very much to kill the poor little thing. You would not be very likely to find it alive.
If there are any trash-dumpsters at all in your neighborhood, there is significant chance you will have rats at least on on occasion....though you may not always see them, because the neighborhood cats (especially homeless feral cats) may get to them first. So will Jack Russell Terriers if possible, though unlike cats, dogs usually have to be kept on a leash and not run free.
Go tell my dad that. He has an extra car he keeps outside in the driveway(our family's old 2000 Avalon), sometimes it doesn't get driven for a week or two. A squirrel took a ride on the serpentine belt one day, destroyed the belt and well you can imagine the mess. He texted me a photo, looks like the squirrel strapped some illegal firecrackers to its belly and yelled allahu akbar. Total horror show. Dad fixed it himself and cleaned up the mess.
Then a few months later there was a chipmunk who had a hole near the driveway. We kept smelling a gaseous odor in that car, then it started leaking fuel if you parked it on a hill. Turns out the chipmunk built a nest on top of the gas tank and chewed through a fuel line or maybe it was a line for the evap system, I can't remember. Ended up being a several hundred dollar repair, had to drop the gas tank out of the car.
There are no rats where I live,
Trending Topics
07-05-18, 10:25 PM
#8
Having a different experience with those creatures in my area is not necessarily being naive.
Well, I can't vouch for conditions at your dad's house....perhaps so. I know what I've seen where I've lived, for decades. We've never had squirrels or chipmunks do anything like that in my neighborhood....though they have been known to get into people's attics from the outside.
With a chipmunk's diminutive size, if it actually chews into a fuel line and ingests any gasoline (or vapors) it wouldn't take very much to kill the poor little thing. You would not be very likely to find it alive.
If there are any trash-dumpsters at all in your neighborhood, there is significant chance you will have rats at least on on occasion....though you may not always see them, because the neighborhood cats (especially homeless feral cats) may get to them first. So will Jack Russell Terriers if possible, though unlike cats, dogs usually have to be kept on a leash and not run free.
Well, I can't vouch for conditions at your dad's house....perhaps so. I know what I've seen where I've lived, for decades. We've never had squirrels or chipmunks do anything like that in my neighborhood....though they have been known to get into people's attics from the outside.
With a chipmunk's diminutive size, if it actually chews into a fuel line and ingests any gasoline (or vapors) it wouldn't take very much to kill the poor little thing. You would not be very likely to find it alive.
If there are any trash-dumpsters at all in your neighborhood, there is significant chance you will have rats at least on on occasion....though you may not always see them, because the neighborhood cats (especially homeless feral cats) may get to them first. So will Jack Russell Terriers if possible, though unlike cats, dogs usually have to be kept on a leash and not run free.
07-06-18, 02:00 AM
#9
I'm against toyota on this. They should use some toxic tasting wires so rats don't chew them.
Lots of people park their cars outside, and rats are everywhere. I see roof rats running down the power pole cables at nightfall.
It's not an extermination issue. It would be way more expensive to exterminate rats than to just use a different wire insulation..
Lots of people park their cars outside, and rats are everywhere. I see roof rats running down the power pole cables at nightfall.
It's not an extermination issue. It would be way more expensive to exterminate rats than to just use a different wire insulation..
07-06-18, 06:32 AM
#12
Lexus Fanatic
If the wires were properly coated on the surface, I don't see how rats could even tell beforehand what the basic substance was underneath. A thin plastic or vinyl coating on the surface would hide the soy-based stuff underneath that is attractive to them.
07-06-18, 06:42 AM
#13
Lexus Fanatic
Come on, Aron. I can understand doing that with rats, as they are filthy and carry every disease in the book. (Jack-Russell Terriers, BTW, love to go after them...they are notorious rat-killers). But squirrels and chipmunks are a different story....they are simply God's gentle little creatures that live on seeds and nuts, don't attack the wiring in vehicles, and, in general, just mind their own business and stock their nests. I find chipmunks to be adorable....got a few of them living just outside my house, in the bushes....along with some squirrels in the trees.
Wow, I went to the web to see if I could find any pics, and all I could find were pics of his son with racoons, and the son did not like the fact that his dad would loan me a car to use for months, newer than mine lol while he fixed mine (I know that as a business practice maybe that's not good esp. when you're only charging $800). But his son looks to be in his 60's....
edit that may be him in the pic, could be the pic was taken a long time ago cuz he was in his 70's when he was fixing my car. Huh so he loved animals so much the raccoons are in his house.
Last edited by Johnhav430; 07-06-18 at 06:46 AM.
07-06-18, 08:12 AM
#14
oh i laugh at your naivety regarding rodents.
Go tell my dad that. He has an extra car he keeps outside in the driveway(our family's old 2000 avalon), sometimes it doesn't get driven for a week or two. A squirrel took a ride on the serpentine belt one day, destroyed the belt and well you can imagine the mess. He texted me a photo, looks like the squirrel strapped some illegal firecrackers to its belly and yelled allahu akbar.
Go tell my dad that. He has an extra car he keeps outside in the driveway(our family's old 2000 avalon), sometimes it doesn't get driven for a week or two. A squirrel took a ride on the serpentine belt one day, destroyed the belt and well you can imagine the mess. He texted me a photo, looks like the squirrel strapped some illegal firecrackers to its belly and yelled allahu akbar.
lmfao!!!!!
07-06-18, 04:54 PM
#15
Toyota called the claims "meritless" and has previously said that rodent damage to vehicle wiring was widespread across the industry and vehicle brands and that it knew of no evidence that proves rodents are attracted to soy-based automotive wiring insulation.