Toyota Sought to Discredit Witness As Part of PR Strategy
Just as they would likely do at trial, Toyota officials sought to attack the credibility of witnesses who testified before Congress about the sudden acceleration problems faced by some Toyota vehicles.
Toyota has been faced with a legal and public relations crisis after their vehicles' sudden acceleration problems led to at least 39 deaths and potentially affected over 8 million vehicles. In response, Toyota officials hired a political pollster and New York PR firm to help determine what they could do to undermine the testimony of Sean Kane and David Gilbert, the Washington Post reports. Both Kane and Gilbert testified before Congress regarding the acceleration problems.
In response to the polls, Sean Kane replied "If we weren't finding something that was meaningful, they wouldn't be spending this kind of time and money . . . they're willing to go to great lengths to discredit anyone who asks questions about their products."
Although Toyota commissioned the polls to help with their advertising and public relations responses to their troubles, assessing the credibility of witnesses is one of a jury’s primary functions and the information might also be used if any of the over 320 lawsuits filed against Toyota over the problems go to trial.
These types of litigation tactics wouldn’t be new to Toyota. We previously reported on their evasive defense tactics here and their deceptive business practices here.
The attorneys of Bahe Cook Cantley & Jones are currently representing people who have these types of problems with their Toyota cars. If you have any questions, feel free to contact Shawn Cantley directly by clicking here: profile.
For the full text of the Washington Post article, click here.
For Sean Kane’s Safety Record Blog, click here.
For more information on David Gilbert’s replication of the Toyota Sudden Acceleration problem, see our prior post here.
