Plastic pulleys = pulling bodies out of a car
Toyota denies fault for fatal St. Paul crash
By Elizabeth Mohr
POSTED: 01/08/2015 12:01:00 AM CST
Twin Cities report on Koua Fong Lee trial
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Trudy Groppoli Baltazar • 4 days ago
So, I have to say my favorite statement by Bob Hilliard during his opening statement in this lawsuit. He showed the Toyota testing specification for when Toyota tested their 1996 Camry LE before determining if it was safe or not. The test was specifically for the Accelerator Control System (ACS). The ACS that Toyota tested all contained metal pulleys which control the accelerator cable. Well as it turns out, Koua's '96 Camry has plastic pulleys. Toyota never tested the ACS units with plastic pulleys.
[Toyota defense counsel] Graves also objected repeatedly during the testimony of John Stilson, an Illinois automotive and safety consultant who criticized Toyota’s accelerator design for the 1996 Camry.
“It is my opinion it was designed and manufactured defectively,” he stated.
Stilson said that heat from the Camry engine caused two plastic pulleys to “bind” and become stuck, leading the car to accelerate on its own.