When Michael Noble crashed his mother’s 2006 Toyota Tacoma into a Westminster embankment and rolled, some believed the 21-year-old had been horsing around before the crash.
“The light turned green, and I put my foot on the gas and it took off on me,” he said. “I still don’t see how I did it.”
Now the Nobles say the Tacoma accelerated on its own, and they have filed a federal lawsuit asking for compensation for the loss of the truck and for the legal expenses Michael Noble incurred to clear his name.
Toyota issued a recall for the $25,000 pickups for floor mats sticking to the accelerators, but Amanda Noble had replaced her Tacoma’s mats before the recall.
Two months before the Feb. 14 accident, she took the truck to a Toyota dealership for service, and no problems were detected. The only glitch she noticed was the truck sometimes lurched forward when she was idling before going into her garage.
The Tacoma was her second Toyota.
As of last week, there were 342 state and federal lawsuits related to unintentional acceleration pending against the automaker nationwide, including three federal suits filed in Colorado.
All of the federal cases are being consolidated under one Santa Ana, Calif., judge who will decide whether Toyota must provide a remedy for people such as the Nobles.
“All legal aspects are going to take their due course,” said Celeste Migliore, a Toyota spokeswoman. “We will have no comment on pending litigation or speculate on investigations until they are well on their way to being completed.”
Michael Noble was eastbound on West 104th Avenue, and, when the light changed, he turned north onto Sheridan Boulevard. The truck accelerated and began to fishtail, and the rear end of the truck hit a curb and launched him over an embankment.
Noble suffered an injured elbow, and a back-seat passenger suffered whiplash when her seat belt broke.
Amanda Noble arrived at the scene of the crash and said she put her “mom hat” on and asked her son what he did to cause the crash.
The reply was that he didn’t know how it happened, and witnesses backed him up, she said.
So Amanda Noble spent $4,000 in legal fees defending her son from a charge of careless driving resulting in the injuries of himself and a passenger. The charge could have cost him a $1,000 fine and a year in jail.
“You should have seen the look on Michael’s face when the judge read the penalty,” Amanda Noble said.
Michael Noble pleaded guilty to driving a defective vehicle after State Farm insurance investigators interviewed witnesses and passengers and determined the truck had unintentionally accelerated.
“Toyota came out and looked at the car, and they still won’t tell us what they think happened,” said the Nobles’ attorney, Frank Porada.
There could be as many as 8 million defective Toyotas, and the lawsuits could cost the company billions to resolve, Porada said.
Felisa Cardona: 303-954-1219 or fcardona@denverpost.com
