nine people had to go to the hospital. not life-threatening injuries. the cause of the accident, how could this happen? the bus driver ran a light. a red light, wow. a $1 cigarette tax could help fix health care and the economy according to the american cancer society. it says adding $1 per pack, you could raise more than $9 billion a year for states and save on long-term health care costs. a poll says most americans would support that. amazing what a buck can do. toyota says dealers stuck with 70,000 cars they cannot sell. they are part of the recall that could get gas pedals stuck. the chief says the number amounts to 60% of all dealer stock. also new this morning we know the cases and claims of uncontrolled acceleration in toyota vehicles go back to at least 2004. we have uncovered allegations that toyota has known about the
reporter: ben bailey s law firm is suing toyota over the alleged wrongful death of a michigan woman whose 2005 toyota camry crashed after suddenly accelerating out of control. reporter: back in 2004 they were already talking about the throttle control system. right. reporter: so this isn t a new problem that toyota is investigating suddenly. right. reporter: they knew about it. yes. reporter: why didn t nhtsa look into it? rather than review the causes of sudden acceleration they decided to exclude two crucial areas. they say longer duration incidents involving uncontrollable acceleration where the brakes didn t work are are not within the scope of this investigation. reporter: that decision was made after discussions with santucci and another toyota official who also worked for nhtsa. santucci was deposed in december. we discussed the scope, nhtsa s concerns about the scope
and ultimately led to a decision by the agency to reduce that scope. reporter: was toyota effectively calling the shots? were they telling the federal government what they should and should not be looking for? i wish i knew the answer. reporter: is that what you believe? i don t know. that s why we filed this lawsuit. reporter: a toyota spokesman in santucci s office says any insinuation that he violated federal ethics laws or that he did not live up to the highest professional standards is totally without merit. and nhtsa says, quote, our record reflects that safety is our singular priority. the agency says the scope of the investigation was appropriate because, quote, longer duration incidents involve the possibility that the wrong pedal was used which could mask a vehicle-based defect. that was ridiculous for the agency to agree to that. reporter: joan claybrook s consumer group successfully sued toyota in 2007 forcing it to disclose which vehicles were involved in cra
calls. you hear in the background, mom! dad! the kids are getting cabin fever. also cleaning up the snow and talking about $1 million an inch according to the mayor of new york city, michael blumberg s office. if you think about that it s expensive snow. ten inches in central park, so that s $10 million. and that s just that storm. that s a lot. thank you very much. no more snow days. unfortunate. they will be in school until august. thanks, steph. coming up, is it a conflict of interest? former federal investigators working for toyota. we ll have an a.m. original.
see if the car is coming. this morning s top stories minutes away including charges that toyota may have been too cozy with the government agency responsible for overseeing the autos and that perhaps it knew cars could speed out of control and didn t tell the american public for six years. also, we know sarah palin has been in the news a lot lately. people have been talking about her. well, vice president joe biden talking about her as well, but he has kind words. kicking off fashion week with the queen of fashion statements, lady gaga going one on one with us at the top of the hour. yellow one! blue one! red one! white one!