Supreme Court Rejects Prius ABS Appeal

The U.S. Supreme Court refused to hear a Toyota Motor Corp. appeal that sought to force arbitration of California lawsuits over the brakes in Prius cars, Bloomberg News reports.

The decision Monday left intact a federal appeals court ruling that says Toyota can't enforce the arbitration clauses in dealers purchase agreements with customers.

The consumers say the antilock brakes in the 2010 Prius has a defect that makes the cars harder to stop, especially on rough roads. The owners say Toyota failed to resolve the problem in a 2010 recall. They urged the Supreme Court not to hear the appeal.

The ABS campaign was not part of Toyota's U.S. recall of 7.7 million vehicles in 2009-2010 to fix loose floor mats and sticky accelerator pedals linked to unintended acceleration.