Toyota Asks Court to Dismiss Lawsuits

Toyota Motor Corp. asked a U.S. court to throw out lawsuits over acceleration defects in its cars, saying many of the plaintiffs never identified any defect or experienced sudden, unintended acceleration.

The automaker filed its motion in court Monday.

"Toyota is confident that its cars provide safe, reliable transportation and that the plaintiffs have no credible claims of loss or defect," said Cari K. Dawson, an attorney for Toyota, in a company statement.

Hundreds of lawsuits were filed against Toyota after the company started recalling millions of vehicles because of acceleration problems in several models and brake defects with the Prius hybrid.

Toyota has recalled more than 10 million vehicles worldwide over the last year. Federal officials said they have received about 3,000 complaints about sudden acceleration and estimated the problem could be involved in the deaths of 93 people over the last decade.

Some of the remaining lawsuits seek compensation for injury and death due to sudden acceleration, while others claim economic loss from owners who say the value of their cars and trucks plummeted after the recalls.

All of the federal cases were consolidated and assigned to a judge in Southern California.

U.S.-listed shares of Toyota rose 78 cents to $70.41 in afternoon trading.