Toyota might not be off the hook just yet in a lawsuit over soy-based wiring that some drivers say has attracted hungry rodents.
The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals overturned a lower court’s dismissal of the implied warranty claims, with a few exceptions, from a 4-year-old lawsuit against Toyota Motor Sales U.S.A. in a decision filed Wednesday. The appeals court upheld the dismissal of state law fraud and consumer protection claims.
The lawsuit, filed in August 2016, alleges Toyota’s switch to soy-based insulation for engine wiring — instead of petroleum-based insulation — is attractive to hungry rodents.
Lead plaintiff attorney Brian Kabateck filed the suit on behalf of Albert Heber in Indiana, who paid around $1,500 to fix the wiring of his 2012 Toyota Tundra that was chewed through three separate times. Several more plaintiffs came forward after Heber’s claims. The suit says the company should cover the damages under warranty.
A federal judge dismissed the class-action lawsuit in July 2018. The motion to dismiss obtained by Automotive News at the time stated there were 21 plaintiffs in the 242-page complaint, which had been amended four times.
“The court’s decision to revive this class action is great news for a growing number of Toyota owners who have seen the wiring in their cars torn to shreds by hungry rodents,” Kabateck said in a statement. “Consumers have had to pay thousands of dollars out-of-pocket to repair the damage which we think should be covered by the manufacturer’s warranty.”
In a statement to Automotive News on Friday, a Toyota spokesman said, “Plaintiffs have repeatedly failed to allege facts that would make their defect theory plausible, and we continue to believe the limited claims that were allowed to continue are meritless. We are currently not aware of any scientific evidence that shows rodents are attracted to automotive wiring because of alleged soy-based content. Moreover, rodent damage to vehicle wiring occurs across the industry, and the issue is not brand- or model-specific.”
