> the unintended acceleration panic was not a real mechanical issue Wasn't it software? Isn't that just as "real"? > Toyota was not at fault Uh... A subsequ

> the unintended acceleration panic was not a real mechanical issue Wasn't it software? Isn't that just as "real"? > Toyota was not at fault Uh... A subsequent investigation[47] by Safety Research[48] of the NTHSA/NASA report along with information from Barrs report[49] and Koopmans report[50] revealed that bad software design, antiquated ECU hardware fueled by a poor company culture were the likely cause of the SUA in the Toyota Camry incidents. In April 2013, Betsy Benjaminson, a freelance translator working for Toyota to translate internal documents, released a personal statement about Toyota covering up facts about the sudden unintended acceleration problem. This leak of internal documents fueled a criminal investigation by the FBI and the Justice Department that had been ongoing since 2010,[52] and on March 19, 2014, the DOJ issued a deferred prosecution agreement with a $1.2 billion criminal penalty for issuing misleading and deceptive statements to its consumers and federal regulators, as well as hiding another cause of unintended acceleration, the sticky pedal, from the NHTSA.[41] This fine was separate from the $1.2 billion settlement of a class action suit paid to the drivers of Toyota cars who claimed that their cars had lost value as a result of the SUA problems gaining publicity in 2012, and was at the time the largest criminal fine against an automaker in US history.[53] Toyota was also forced to pay a total of $66.2 million in fines to the Department of Transportation for failing to handle recalls properly and $25.5 million to Toyota shareholders whose stock lost value due to recalls. Nearly 400 wrongful-death and personal injury cases were also privately settled by Toyota as a result of unintended acceleration.[53]