Toyota Hit With Class Action Over Moldy Smell in Camry AC System

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Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc. was hit with a class action lawsuit alleging that its 2012 Camry vehicles have a defective air conditioning system that causes mold to grow.

Plaintiff Alan Forsley of Califronia filed his Toyota class action lawsuit in a California state court on March 30. Forsley says he purchased a 2012 Toyota Camry in May 2012 from a Los Angeles area Toyota dealership.

Forsley alleges that the 2012 Toyota Camry’s defective air conditioning system emits “noxious and foul odors from mold growth in the HVAC system” because of a “uniform and widespread defect.”

“Exposure to such smells and mold is extremely dangerous and can lead to sickness and other health related issues,” the California man explained in his Toyota Camry defective air conditioning class action lawsuit.

Forsley cites the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the World Health Organization (WHO) and other research institutions that detail the health and safety risk associated with mold exposure.

“Molds can cause symptoms such as nasal stuffiness, eye irritation, wheezing, or skin irritation,” the CDC has stated, according to the class action lawsuit.

According to WHO, exposure to mold has been “clinically associated with respiratory symptoms, allergies, asthma, and immunological reactions.”

The mold problem in the 2012 Camry allegedly “grows on a component called the evaporator, located inside the vehicle’s dashboard. As the cold refrigerant passes into the evaporator, it absorbs heat from the air in the passenger compartment and also collects moisture because of condensation on the evaporator’s surface,” the Toyota class action lawsuit says.

“The moisture, along with pollen, dead insects in the air, and bits of leaves that enter the HVAC system from the outside vents, leads to an environment favorable to mold growth,” it adds.

However, Forsley says that any attempt to fix the allegedly defective HVAC system “merely replaces the defective HVAC components with the same defective components, which never repairs the HVAC defect as warranted.

And it may come to “impermanent repairs which do not address the issue,” such as repeatedly replacing air filters or performing “repeated foam flushes.”

According to Forsley, Toyota knew or should have known about this problem with its air conditioning system, and that it “has acknowledged that the HVAC system used in the Class Vehicles and its attendant problems are the same as the odor issues occurring in other Toyota vehicles” dating back to at least 2005.

In 2005, it was allegedly stated in a Toyota technician training manual that “A/C system odors are a common complaint among users, especially after start up.”

The manual explains that the odors could come from “‘[m]icrobes [i.e., mold] growing on the evaporator surface’ that are ‘small living bacteria carried into the evaporator case [that] grow in the warm, moist environment.'”

“Additionally, it states that there is ‘no permanent mechanical repair’ for this issue,” the Toyota class action lawsuit states.

In February 2014, after putting almost 19,000 miles on the vehicle, Forsley brought his 2012 Camry to the dealership where he purchased the car in Marina del Rey, “complaining that the vehicle’s HVAC system was giving off an odor when the heat or air conditioning were turned on.”

No repair was performed when he brought his Camry in, the service adviser only gave him a pamphlet to read, explaining that there is “‘no permanent mechanical repair'” for these types of odors,” according to his Toyota Camry class action lawsuit.

However, the dealership did repair the air conditioner radiator case, which was part of a recall for “the drain hose for the air conditioner condenser which could become clogged, causing water to accumulate at the bottom of the air conditioning condenser unit housing,” which could potentially cause “air bags to become  disabled or inadvertently deploy,” among other problems.

But the repair did nothing to fix the moldy odor coming from the allegedly defective air conditioning unit, the class action lawsuit explains.

Forsley cites complaints by other Toyota Camry owners filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), who had similar problems with the air conditioning systems in their Toyota Camry vehicles.

Forsley wants to represent a class of those who have either owned or leased 2012 Toyota Camry vehicles.

The Toyota class action lawsuit alleges violations of California’s Consumer Legal Remedies Act, violations of the state’s Unfair Competition Law, breach of implied warranty, breach of express warranty and unjust enrichment.

The plaintiffs are represented by Jordan L. Lurie, Robert Friedl, Tarek H. Zohdy and Cody R. Padgett of Capstone Law APC.

Counsel information for Toyota is not yet available.

The Toyota Camry Class Action Lawsuit is Forsley et al v. Toyota Motors Sales USA Inc. et al, Case No. BC577240, in the Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Los Angeles.