Toyota and Lexus Defective Low-Pressure Fuel Pumps Class Action

If a fuel injection system cannot keep feeding fuel to a vehicle’s engine in a consistent way, the vehicle may stall or shut down. It’s precisely such stalling and shutdown that this class action complains of, in Toyota and Lexus vehicles from Toyota Motor North America, Inc. and Toyota Motor Corporation. The complaint alleges that the fuel pump in in a large number of these vehicles is defective.

The Nationwide Class for this action is all persons or entities in the US who owned or leased a Toyota or Lexus vehicle with the Denso low-pressure fuel pumps and assemblies that begin with part number prefixes 23220- and 23221-. The Pennsylvania Subclass includes all such persons or entities in Pennsylvania.

The original Recall Report for the vehicles says that the fuel pumps in question “contain an impeller that could deform due to excessive fuel absorption…. If impeller deformation occurs, the impeller may interfere with the fuel pump body, and this could result in … rough engine running, engine no start and/or vehicle stall…” It said that Toyota had begun an investigation into the problem.

A later Recall Report had more detail about the impellers, stating that they either may be of a type with lower surface strength or “were exposed to production solvent drying for longer periods of time, [so that] surface cracking may occur.” This causes excessive fuel absorption, which in turn may deform the impeller.

The recalls now cover more than 1.8 million vehicles. (For a long list of recalled models, see the complaint, linked below.) However, the complaint claims that the same dangerous condition exists in millions of other Toyota and Lexus vehicles that have the low-pressure fuel pump.

The plaintiff in this case, Lenard Shoemaker, owns a 2018 Toyota Tundra, which is on the list of recalled vehicles. The complaint claims that he took his vehicle to the dealership for other servicing sometime around March 2020 and asked about the recall. “The dealership told him that it was aware of the recall but that Toyota did not have a fix for the defect. [Shoemaker] has not heard back from the dealership about the availability of a fix for the defect.”

The complaint claims, “Toyota has not fixed the recalled vehicles, or any other Affected Vehicles…” and “Toyota has not recommended or advised that consumers stop driving the Affected Vehicles pending repair or replacement” of the defective fuel pumps.

The complaint alleges that Toyota is failing to honor its warranties. Even owners bring Affected Vehicles to service centers, complaining of issues that relate to the fuel pump defect, it says, “Toyota has: (1) failed to notify them of the Fuel Pump Defect … and/or (2) notified them of the recall … but refused to repair the defect or provide alternative/replacement transportation that is not defective.”

Counts include breaches of warranties, fraudulent concealment, and breach of contract, among other things.

Article Type: Lawsuit
Topic: Automobile
Tags: Defective Automobile, Fuel Pumps