Toyota can’t gut a lawsuit alleging it is responsible for the fatal carbon monoxide poisoning of an Atlanta man who unwittingly left his 2017 Tacoma idling in his garage, having walked inside his home with the car’s “smart key” fob, a federal judge in Atlanta ruled Wednesday.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Thrash Jr. said a jury should decide the bulk of claims brought against Toyota by Caroline Griffin in relation to the death of her husband, Lee Griffin. He had parked his Tacoma in their garage and closed the driver’s door before entering their attached home with the fob, according to the complaint.
The suit says because the car lacked an automatic or timed engine shut-off, it kept idling in the garage and pumped carbon monoxide into the Griffins’ house while they slept. The following morning, Lee Griffin had died and Caroline Griffin had to be hospitalized, case records show…