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Brad and Jenny Meek were coming home to Madison from Lodi one Sunday evening last May when Brad Meek's hands felt the steering column loosen in the couple's 2010 Toyota Prius.
The couple had been at daughter Emersyn's baptism, and the baby girl and her sister, Avery, 3, were in the back seat.
On Interstate 90-94, near the Highway 30 exit, Meek felt the entire steering column telescope and fall. Desperate, he tried to lift the steering column and wheel.
"Then the whole thing collapsed in my lap and my wife started screaming," he said.
At 70 mph, with no steering, Meek took his foot from the gas pedal and the car started swerving left. Placing his left hand beneath the unattached column to hold it up, he used his right hand to move the steering wheel and was able to direct the car to the side of the interstate.
Wisconsin State Patrol trooper Lor Lee's incident report says that the Prius' "steering wheel latch on the bottom broke, (leaving) nothing to hold it steady or in place."
What followed has been five months of negotiations with Toyota and Madison dealer, Jon Lancaster, where the Meeks bought their car. A settlement in August with Toyota has left the Meeks disappointed, poorer by $10,000, angry because Toyota would not totally reimburse them or pay the cost of a lawyer, or promise to inspect other 2010 Prius cars for the same problem.
Meek said Lancaster Toyota assistant service manager Gene Arndt listened in disbelief when Meek described what happened to the Prius on which the Meeks had run up 6,230 miles.
Lancaster's repair order on the Meeks' Prius says the "upper steering column plate came out of the bracket, possibly not locked in all the way from factory," and a sensor "has an internal fault." The mechanics had to take apart another 2010 Prius steering column to make sure nothing was missing.
"They said the bolts were not tightened enough, that a lock washer was on the wrong side and that vibrated it loose, and it was possibly not installed right at the factory," Meek said.
Toyota engineers were summoned to Madison to inspect the steering column. After the car was repaired, Toyota demanded that it be returned for further examination, leaving the Meeks with a loaner car. When the dealership told the couple to take their repaired Prius back, the Meeks declined. For several weeks, Meek was left riding a scooter to his job at Farm N Fleet.
Meek said Toyota shouldn't have been surprised that his family did not want the car back.
"We didn't want another Toyota, we wanted our money back," he said.
The Meeks got a lawyer, Pamela Smoler, to negotiate with Toyota. In letters from June 24 to July 18, Smoler asked for a new car, not manufactured where the steering-challenged Prius was made, for the Meeks and legal fees, "as the family does not have the time or money for protracted litigation with Jon Lancaster and Toyota."
She said the Meeks "expect some compensation for their time, trauma and constant worry and unrest."
In an interview, Smoler said Toyota officials in conversations had included legal fees in the settlement, and Smoler estimated her fee to be about $11,000. The total settlement would amount to little more than $40,000.
The Meeks signed a cash settlement agreement that included a gag order about the amount, and bought a 2008 Ford Taurus. Toyota would pay no legal fees.
They were told by Toyota that the issue of additional 2010 Prius possibly being manufactured with identical steering column flaws was "not statistically relevant," Smoler said.
Besides the Meeks' report, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's car defect, recall database contains no other reports of problems with 2010 Toyota Prius steering columns.
Toyota referred calls to a public relations office in Detroit, from which Curt McAllister said there would no comment other than this statement:
"The owner was fully refunded for the 2010 Prius in early August as part of Toyota's buy-back program. The case was officially closed on August 23, nearly two months ago."
Jon Lancaster Toyota did not return telephone messages. Meek said Lancaster offered him $100 "for our inconvenience."
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/c...1cc4c03286.html
Brad and Jenny Meek were coming home to Madison from Lodi one Sunday evening last May when Brad Meek's hands felt the steering column loosen in the couple's 2010 Toyota Prius.
The couple had been at daughter Emersyn's baptism, and the baby girl and her sister, Avery, 3, were in the back seat.
On Interstate 90-94, near the Highway 30 exit, Meek felt the entire steering column telescope and fall. Desperate, he tried to lift the steering column and wheel.
"Then the whole thing collapsed in my lap and my wife started screaming," he said.
At 70 mph, with no steering, Meek took his foot from the gas pedal and the car started swerving left. Placing his left hand beneath the unattached column to hold it up, he used his right hand to move the steering wheel and was able to direct the car to the side of the interstate.
Wisconsin State Patrol trooper Lor Lee's incident report says that the Prius' "steering wheel latch on the bottom broke, (leaving) nothing to hold it steady or in place."
What followed has been five months of negotiations with Toyota and Madison dealer, Jon Lancaster, where the Meeks bought their car. A settlement in August with Toyota has left the Meeks disappointed, poorer by $10,000, angry because Toyota would not totally reimburse them or pay the cost of a lawyer, or promise to inspect other 2010 Prius cars for the same problem.
Meek said Lancaster Toyota assistant service manager Gene Arndt listened in disbelief when Meek described what happened to the Prius on which the Meeks had run up 6,230 miles.
Lancaster's repair order on the Meeks' Prius says the "upper steering column plate came out of the bracket, possibly not locked in all the way from factory," and a sensor "has an internal fault." The mechanics had to take apart another 2010 Prius steering column to make sure nothing was missing.
"They said the bolts were not tightened enough, that a lock washer was on the wrong side and that vibrated it loose, and it was possibly not installed right at the factory," Meek said.
Toyota engineers were summoned to Madison to inspect the steering column. After the car was repaired, Toyota demanded that it be returned for further examination, leaving the Meeks with a loaner car. When the dealership told the couple to take their repaired Prius back, the Meeks declined. For several weeks, Meek was left riding a scooter to his job at Farm N Fleet.
Meek said Toyota shouldn't have been surprised that his family did not want the car back.
"We didn't want another Toyota, we wanted our money back," he said.
The Meeks got a lawyer, Pamela Smoler, to negotiate with Toyota. In letters from June 24 to July 18, Smoler asked for a new car, not manufactured where the steering-challenged Prius was made, for the Meeks and legal fees, "as the family does not have the time or money for protracted litigation with Jon Lancaster and Toyota."
She said the Meeks "expect some compensation for their time, trauma and constant worry and unrest."
In an interview, Smoler said Toyota officials in conversations had included legal fees in the settlement, and Smoler estimated her fee to be about $11,000. The total settlement would amount to little more than $40,000.
The Meeks signed a cash settlement agreement that included a gag order about the amount, and bought a 2008 Ford Taurus. Toyota would pay no legal fees.
They were told by Toyota that the issue of additional 2010 Prius possibly being manufactured with identical steering column flaws was "not statistically relevant," Smoler said.
Besides the Meeks' report, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's car defect, recall database contains no other reports of problems with 2010 Toyota Prius steering columns.
Toyota referred calls to a public relations office in Detroit, from which Curt McAllister said there would no comment other than this statement:
"The owner was fully refunded for the 2010 Prius in early August as part of Toyota's buy-back program. The case was officially closed on August 23, nearly two months ago."
Jon Lancaster Toyota did not return telephone messages. Meek said Lancaster offered him $100 "for our inconvenience."
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/c...1cc4c03286.html
