Toyota can’t dodge suit over Atlanta man’s keyless entry death, judge says

Toyota asked the judge to toss several claims, including that it knew the lack of an automatic engine shut-off was dangerous and failed to warn customers about it.

Thrash said much of the case involve disputed issues only a jury should decide.

“Just because running a car in a garage is an open and obvious danger does not mean that it is open and obvious that a car will continue to run and emit carbon monoxide after the key is taken out of the vehicle,” he said.

Attorneys for Caroline Griffin said they look forward to trying the case and “getting justice from Toyota for the Griffin family.”

Toyota’s lawyers in the case did not immediately respond to questions about the ruling.

According to the judge’s order, Lee Griffin moved his Tacoma out of his garage on July 4, 2022, to access his lawn mower. He wore earbuds to listen to music and, after mowing his lawn, moved the car back into the garage.

The car, which Lee Griffin bought new in 2017, was designed to beep three times when the driver parked it, left the engine running, closed the door and exited with the key fob, case records show. The judge said Lee Griffin had a hearing deficiency and was likely still wearing his earbuds and listening to music when he exited the car after parking it in his garage, unaware it was still running.

In her 2023 complaint, Caroline Griffin said that at the time of her husband’s death, Toyota knew of at least 16 other instances in which a Toyota vehicle had killed a person when it failed to shut off and filled an enclosed space with carbon monoxide.

“Toyota has known about this deadly danger since at least 2006 — more than 15 years before Mr. Griffin’s death,” she said in the suit. “Despite knowing that this defect was killing Americans, Toyota did nothing and warned no one.”

Toyota argued in part that it had no duty to warn the public about the potential for carbon monoxide poisoning when a car is left running in a garage, because the risk is well known. The company also said Caroline Griffin failed to show that the Tacoma’s allegedly inadequate warning system caused her husband’s death.

“Plaintiff has no evidence to demonstrate that a different written, audible or visual alert would have caused the decedent to shut off the Tacoma’s engine at the time of the subject incident,” Toyota wrote in its request to have certain claims thrown out.

In his order, the judge said Toyota contends it has complied with all relevant government and industry standards, and that Caroline Griffin does not dispute that.

The order also mentions a spreadsheet created by Toyota for a separate case, listing 117 different instances in which a person has reported or made a claim alleging they exited a Toyota vehicle with the key fob and the engine continued to run.

“In several incidents, the running car caused injuries and/or fatalities from carbon monoxide poisoning, much like what occurred here,” the judge wrote. “A jury could conclude that the defendants were aware of the alleged defect before the decedent bought the car but willfully or wantonly ignored the issue despite the consequences.”

A trial date has yet to be set.