In an effort to resolve nearly 400 lawsuits filed at both the local and federal levels over deaths and injuries allegedly caused by manufacturing defects in its vehicles dating back nearly eight years, Japanese car manufacturer Toyota has agreed to enter a mediation process with the governments concerning all the suits.

Dating back to 2005, Toyota has recalled millions of vehicles over a problem that caused unintended acceleration in some models of its cars.  In addition to the 375 lawsuits being addressed in this move, Toyota has also seen several individual suits go to court.  Prior to this year, Toyota successfully defended itself in these lawsuits, but in late 2013 a jury in Oklahoma awarded a family $3 million in damages they tied directly to faulty electronics in the car that caused unintended acceleration.  Prompted by this initial defeat in the courts, Toyota is now inspired to settle all remaining suits and has stated a desire for an “intensive settlement process.” While it is not expected that all 375 outstanding suits will be settled via this mediation, a large proportion of them are expected to be handled.

Mediation seemed inevitable, as it simply isn’t practical to try hundreds of cases one at a time.  However, prior to the financial motivation of successful damage claims in the courts by individuals, Toyota’s strategy seemed to be one of delaying.  Now it is expected that the bulk of these suits will be settled by early next year.