Story Published: Mar 10, 2010 at 4:31 PM PDT
Story Updated: Mar 10, 2010 at 7:56 PM PDT
SEATTLE – Ron and Lori Eves barely slept a wink Tuesday night. After more than two years, they're finally about to find out what happened the night their son, Chris Eves, died.
"I was elated," said the mother, Lori Eves.
They're both elated because the Eves' long fight for answers about their son's death is nearly over.
"I just want closure and peace of mind," Lori Eves said.
Ron and Lori Eves spent more than two years trying to find out what happened the night Chris Eves' Toyota Tundra veered off the road and hit a tree.
Now, they have learned his truck was on the Toyota recall list. With the help of a Washington state Senator, they hope to soon receive information from Toyota that will provide an answer as to whether or not their son was indeed a victim of a runaway or faulty Toyota.
The steps in this process
Washington State Patrol troopers concluded Chris Evens fell asleep at the wheel Oct. 17, 2007. The Eves didn't buy that, and the car's "black box" (its EDR or event data recorder) might be the only way to find answers.
But from the beginning, Toyota refused the family's and KATU's Seattle-sister-station KOMO's requests to download the information.
"That's our main goal was to find out what actually happened," said Lori Eves. "If we had found out last year when you tried to get the EDR box open maybe we could have saved some lives."
This past month, Chris Eves' family learned his truck was on the Toyota recall list, and again asked Toyota to read the EDR. But they got no response.
Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) heard of the Eves' plight.
"One of my constituents' son died in a single vehicle crash driving one of the recalled 2007 Toyota Tundras," Cantwell said.
She used Tuesday's Senate hearing to grill Toyota's North American CEO Yoshimi Inaba about the Eves. Surprisingly, he seemed to know exactly who she was talking about and immediately agreed to download the EDR.
"This is also our desire to find out what has happened and very, very sorry what has happened to that family," Inaba said.
The Eves are thrilled with Toyota's about-face. But after two years of fighting the company, they're also cautious.
"I'm pessimistic a little bit, because I'm not sure if they're just trying to pacify us or not," said Lori Eves.
Toyota is expected to get in touch with the Eves to arrange for downloading the information on the EDR. The Eves don't know how quickly that will happen.
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