Toyota’s Unintended-Acceleration Criminal Charge Dismissed

At the request of the U.S. Justice Department, a federal district judge has dismissed a criminal charge against Toyota arising from allegations that the automaker misled the public about unintended acceleration problems in 2009 and 2010, Reuters reported. 

U.S. District Judge William Paul in New York dismissed the charge on Oct. 5.

The Justice Department filed its dismissal request in August after Toyota completed a three-year period of oversight by an independent monitor. The monitoring period, which concluded on Aug. 7, was spelled out in the company’s $1.2 billion settlement with the federal government. 

As part of the deferred-prosecution agreement, Toyota admitted that it “misled U.S. consumers by concealing and making deceptive statements about two safety related issues affecting its vehicles, each of which caused a type of unintended acceleration.”