Salas v. Toyota

A federal court authorized the notice to inform you of a proposed class action settlement. You are NOT being sued. The notice explains the litigation, the Settlement, and your legal rights. Judge Hernan D. Vera of the United States District Court for the Central District of California is overseeing this case and has exclusive jurisdiction over the Settlement. This litigation is known as Alfred Salas et al. v. Toyota Motor Sales, U.S.A., Inc., Case No. 2:15-cv-08629-HDV-E.

If you have any questions after reviewing this website, you may contact the Settlement Notice Administrator at 1-888-907-6966.

This lawsuit alleges that Toyota designed and sold vehicles with a defective heating, ventilation and air-conditioning system (“HVAC System”). Plaintiffs allege the HVAC Systems in the Subject Vehicles (defined below) cause moisture accumulation, which, in turn, leads to the emission of noxious and foul odors and possibly mold growth.

Toyota denies all claims and allegations of wrongdoing and denies that it violated any law or duty that would give rise to liability. The Court has not decided who is right.

The Settlement applies to model year 2012 to 2015 Toyota Camry XV50 vehicles purchased or leased in California.

In a class action, people called “plaintiffs” or “class representatives” sue on behalf of other people who have similar claims. All of these people together are known as the “Class” or “Class Members,” and the Court must approve this procedure. When a class action is settled, the Court resolves the issues in the lawsuit for all Class Members, except for those who request to be excluded from (or “opt out” of) the class. Opting out means that you will not receive benefits under the Settlement.

Both sides in the lawsuit agreed to the Settlement to avoid the cost and risk of further litigation, including a potential trial. The Settlement provides benefits to Class Members in exchange for releasing Toyota from liability. The Settlement does not mean that Toyota broke any laws or did anything wrong, and the Court did not decide which side was right. Plaintiffs and the lawyers representing the Class believe that the Settlement is in the best interests of all Class Members.

The notice summarizes the essential terms of the Settlement. The Settlement Agreement sets forth in greater detail the rights and obligations of the parties. You can access the Settlement Agreement and other important case documents here.

You are included in the Class if you are an individual who reside(d) in California and own, lease, or previously owned or leased a Subject Vehicle (as defined in FAQ 3) as of May 31, 2024.

The following entities and individuals are excluded from the Class:

• Toyota, its officers, directors, employees, and outside counsel; its affiliates and affiliates’ officers, directors, and employees; its distributors and distributors’ officers and directors, and Toyota’s Dealers and their officers and directors;
• Class Counsel and their employees;
• Judicial officers and their immediate family members and associated court staff assigned to this case; and
• Persons who timely and properly exclude themselves from the Class.

For more information, please review the Settlement Agreement available here.

The deadline to submit a Claim Form passed on May 31, 2026.

If the Court grants final approval of the Settlement, Plaintiffs and Toyota have agreed that Toyota will provide Class Members with the following benefits:

• Reimbursement for certain reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred on or before May 31, 2024; and
• Up to $100 reimbursement for certain reasonable out-of-pocket expenses incurred after May 31, 2024.

To receive the compensation benefits, you must have submitted a claim(s) by the corresponding deadlines. If you did nothing, you will not receive benefits from the Settlement, and, as a Class Member, you will not be able to sue Toyota about the issues in the lawsuit. The deadline to submit a Claim Form for any Subject Vehicle passed on May 31, 2026.

The deadline to submit a Claim Form passed on May 31, 2026.

The deadline to submit a Claim Form passed on May 31, 2026.

Payments will be issued on a rolling basis as claims are submitted and approved. Please check this website for updates on Settlement payments.

The deadline to submit a Claim Form passed on May 31, 2026.

The deadline to submit a Claim Form passed on May 31, 2026.

If the Settlement becomes final and you do not exclude yourself, you will release Toyota and the Released Parties from liability and will not be able to sue Toyota about the issues in the lawsuit.

Under the Settlement, you are not releasing any claims for personal injury, wrongful death, or physical property damage from the Subject Vehicle.

The Settlement Agreement at Section VII and Appendix A of the Long Form Notice describe the released claims in legal terminology, so read it carefully. The Settlement Agreement is available here. You can talk to one of the lawyers listed in FAQ 19 below for free or you can, of course, talk to your own lawyer at your own expense if you have questions about the released claims or what they mean.

If you wished to keep the right to sue or continue to sue Toyota over the legal issues in this lawsuit, then you must have taken the steps to exclude yourself from the Settlement. This is also known as “opting out” of the Class.

If you excluded yourself, you will not receive any Settlement benefits and you will not be bound by anything that happens in this lawsuit. If you asked to be excluded, you also cannot object to the Settlement because you will no longer be part of the Class.

If you timely and properly requested exclusion from the Settlement, you will not release your claims resolved under the Settlement and will retain the right to sue Toyota about the issues in this lawsuit.

The deadline to exclude yourself from the Settlement was September 30, 2024, and has passed.

Yes. The Court has appointed lawyers from the law firms Capstone Law APC and Kiesel Law LLP to represent you and other Class Members. These lawyers are called “Class Counsel.” Their contact information is as follows:

Class Counsel
Tarek Zohdy Capstone Law APC 1875 Century Park East, Suite 1000 Los Angeles, CA 90067  1-310-556-4811  tarek.zohdy@capstonelawyers.com	Paul Kiesel Kiesel Law LLP 8648 Wilshire Blvd. Beverly Hills, CA 90211  1-310-854-4444  kiesel@kiesel.law

If you want to be represented by another lawyer, you may hire one to appear in Court for you at your own expense.

Class Counsel will ask the Court to award the attorneys representing the Class fees up to $4.1 million and litigation expenses up to $350,000 to compensate them for their work litigating this case and securing this Settlement for the Class. Class Counsel will also ask the Court to award each of the Plaintiffs a service award of up to $7,500 for their work in this litigation.

The Court must approve Class Counsel’s requests for fees, expenses, and Plaintiff service awards, before it is paid by Toyota. Class Counsel will submit their request by September 1, 2024, and that document will be available on the Important Documents page of this website shortly after it is filed with the Court. Class Members will have an opportunity to comment on and/or object to the request for attorneys’ fees and expenses and Plaintiff service awards, as explained further in FAQ 21.

Please check this website regularly for updates regarding Class Counsel’s request for attorneys’ fees and expenses.

The deadline to object to the Settlement was September 30, 2024, and has passed.

Excluding yourself is telling the Court that you do not want to be part of the Class and do not want to receive any benefits under the Settlement. If you exclude yourself, you have no basis to object because the Settlement no longer affects you. Objecting is telling the Court that you do not like something about the Settlement, the requested fees, costs, and expenses, and/or Plaintiff service awards. You may object only if you stay in the Class. If you make an objection, you must still submit a claim to receive compensation under the Settlement.

The Court held the final approval or “Fairness Hearing” on October 30, 2024, at 10:00 a.m. PDT, at the United States District Courthouse, Central District of California, First Street Courthouse, 350 W. First Street, Courtroom 5B, Los Angeles, CA 90012. On January 8, 2025, the Court issued its Final Orders and Final Judgment approving the class action settlement. As set out in the Settlement Agreement and given that no objections were filed objecting to the class action settlement, the Final Effective Date has been reached for purposes of settlement benefits.

No, you did not need to attend the Fairness Hearing.

The hearing occurred on October 30, 2024.

This website summarizes the proposed Settlement. More details are in the Settlement Agreement. You can also call the toll-free number, 1-888-907-6966 or write the Settlement Notice Administrator at:

Salas v. Toyota Settlement
Settlement Notice Administrator
P.O. Box 2682
Portland, OR 97208-2682