U.S. lawsuit claims Toyota hid defect evidence

At the same time, Connecticut's attorney general and a U.S. senator from New York both pressed the Japanese automaker to investigate cases of more recent accidents where vehicles reportedly accelerated out of control.

Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas filed a lawsuit in California court on Friday, seeking damages from Toyota for violations of the state's unfair business practices act. The suit claims that Toyota "knowingly" sold hundreds of thousands of vehicles at risk for unintended acceleration while taking "steps to hide and mislead the public about the defects."

"Against this backdrop of fraud and concealment, Toyota has for decades touted its reputation for safety and reliability and knew that people bought its vehicles because of that reputation, and yet purposefully chose to conceal and suppress the existence and nature of defects," the suit said.

Toyota had no immediate comment on the lawsuit, which joins a growing list of legal claims against the automaker.

In addition to pending class-action lawsuits, Toyota also faces a probe by the Securities and Exchange Commission and a criminal investigation by federal prosecutors.

The latest legal challenge comes at a crucial time for Toyota, which has been working to win back consumers and demonstrate that it has taken steps to address mistakes the automaker has acknowledged compromised vehicle quality.

Separately on Friday, Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal said he was pushing Toyota to investigate three accidents involving Camrys in the state in the past week.

"I will vigorously and aggressively investigate to assure that Toyota is addressing and correcting potentially fatal defects in its vehicles," Blumenthal said.

In New York, Sen. Charles Schumer, a Democrat, said he wanted to see the automaker move to probe the cause of an accident in his state involving a Prius with a potentially stuck accelerator pedal.