A federal jury found Friday that Toyota Motor Corp. isn’t responsible for a 2005 crash that the driver blamed on the floor mat or the electronic throttle, in the first case to go to trial since auto maker recalled millions of its vehicles.

After 45 minutes of deliberation, the jury found Toyota wasn’t liable for product liability for the Scion’s floor mat or for the absence of a system that allows the brake to override the accelerator when both are pressed, reported The Wall Street Journal.

The car’s driver, 59-year-old Long Island physician Amir Sitafalwala, contended that defects in the electronic throttle system or the floor mats caused him to suddenly accelerate and crash into a tree. U.S. Magistrate Judge E. Thomas Boyle ruled out evidence about the car’s electronics earlier this week.

Mr. Sitafalwala’s 2008 lawsuit was the first to go to trial since Toyota recalled millions of vehicles beginning in 2009.

In a written statement, Toyota called the verdict an “early indicator of the strength of the legal theories behind unintended acceleration claims” against it.

Toyota has recalled more than 14 million vehicles globally to fix gas pedals and other safety problems, including more than 2 million that were recalled in February to address accelerator pedals that could become entrapped in floor mats or jammed in driver’s side carpeting.

The company paid the U.S. government a record $48.8 million in fines for its handling of three recalls. U.S. regulators said earlier this month that electronic flaws weren’t to blame for reports of sudden, unintended acceleration.

Hundreds of claims from around the U.S. related to the recalls have been consolidated under one judge in a U.S. District Court in California.

In December, Toyota agreed to pay $10 million to the family of four people killed in a runaway Lexus crash in California that led to the recalls. Investigators determined that a wrong-size floor mat trapped the accelerator and caused the August 2009 crash.

Daimler AG’s Mercedes-Benz outsold Toyota Motor Corp.’s Lexus in the U.S. in March, marking three straight months the Japanese brand has failed to come out on top after winning the annual luxury race for 11 years.

Mercedes U.S. deliveries, boosted by sales of its E-Class and C-Class sedans, rose 9.4 percent to 21,484 compared to the same month last year, the Stuttgart, Germany-based automaker said today in a statement. Lexus sales rose 2.3 percent to 20,682 from a year ago while Bayerische Motoren Werke AG’s namesake brand reported a 12 percent gain to 20,295, reported Bloomberg.

March’s results combined with January and February make Mercedes the leader for the year so far by 729 sales over BMW and 5,990 over Lexus. Mercedes in the first quarter sold 53,346 vehicles. BMW, which is based in Munich, sold 52,617 and Lexus 47,356.

The results exclude Daimler’s Sprinter vans and Smart cars and BMW’s Mini brand, which aren’t luxury vehicles.

The ongoing disruption on factory operations in Japan following last month’s earthquake mean the Lexus brand may not be able to retain its rank as the top-selling U.S. luxury brand, Mark Templin, head of U.S. Lexus sales, said today.

“That may not happen as a result of production issues in Japan,” he said in a conference call.

He declined to say whether he expected competitors such as BMW and Mercedes-Benz to capitalize on the Lexus inventory situation. “You’ll have to ask them,” Templin said.

All Lexus models, except for RX sport-utility vehicles are produced only in Japan. Templin said he’s getting daily updates on what to expect in terms of inventory, without elaborating.

While Lexus has been the annual luxury leader in the U.S. since 2000, the Toyota City, Japan-based automaker’s lead over BMW shrank to 9,216 in 2010 as the Japanese automaker felt the effects of record recalls last year.

Even before the earthquake, the brand had been hurt by a lack of new vehicles while the German automakers have been helped by aggressive leasing deals, said Jesse Toprak, an industry analyst with TrueCar.com, a website that tracks auto sales.

“I don’t know if they care as much this year,” he said. Toyota’s focus this year is “to make sure their supply-chain issues – due to what’s happening in Japan – do not cost them more than what it may have already.”

The situation might also help domestic brands, such as General Motors Co.’s Cadillac, he said.

“By all means, whether it’s Mercedes or BMW or us, is that an opportunity? Sure it is,” Kurt McNeil, Cadillac’s vice president of sales, said in a telephone interview.

Sales for GM’s Cadillac luxury division rose 4.5 percent to 12,164 last month, as CTS sales rose 36 percent aided by the new coupe version.

Mercedes, which sets its production plans 60 to 90 days in advance, has limited ability to take advantage of any Lexus shortage, Ernst Lieb, head of Mercedes’s U.S. unit, said in a telephone interview.

“We can’t flip a switch quick enough to get more production,” he said. “There might be a bit of shift in terms share in these months but it’s limited.”

Nissan Motor Co.’s Infiniti sold 11,287 vehicles, a 14 percent increase from a year earlier, said Ben Poore, head of U.S. sales for the brand.

Honda Motor Co., based in Tokyo, said in a statement that sales for its Acura brand rose 7.6 percent to 12,611 last month.

U.S. deliveries of Volkswagen AG’s Audi brand rose 14 percent to 9,818 vehicles, a record for March, the company said in an e-mail.

Porsche SE, the Stuttgart-based automaker merging with Volkswagen, sold 2,588, a 36 percent gain, the company said in a statement.

Ford Motor Co. sold 8,501 Lincoln luxury vehicles in March, a 2.2 percent decrease from a year earlier, according to a statement from the Dearborn, Michigan-based automaker.

Land Rover deliveries rose 26 percent to 3,441, while Jaguar sales slipped 11 percent to 874, Mumbai-based Tata Motors Ltd. said in an e-mailed statement.

Toyota Motor Corp. is raising its U.S. auto prices by 1.7 percent, on average, the Japanese automaker said today.

The increase takes effect in May for all 2011 models across the company’s Toyota, Lexus and Scion brands, reported The Detroit News.

Aside from limited output of Prius and other hybrids, Toyota’s production in Japan has been halted since March 14 because of the damage and supply disruptions caused by a massive quake.

Its U.S. dealers have inventory of most models, but Toyota has said its North American assembly plants also are likely to experience production stoppages.

“Toyota maybe facingproduct shortages,” said Michelle Krebs, senior analyst at online auto research firm Edmunds.com, “but this is adifficult time to raise prices and stillwin U.S. car buyers.It will be interesting to see whether Toyota’scompetitorswill beef up incentive programsgiven the opportunity to grab market share.”

Toyota Motor Corp. asked U.S. dealers to limit replacement-parts orders to those that are “critically needed” because supplies of some components from Japan likely will be disrupted, reported Bloomberg.

“Damage sustained by certain Japanese parts suppliers will interrupt their normal production,” the Toyota City, Japan- based company said in an e-mail to dealers today. While replacement-part inventories are adequate for now, about 233 components have been placed on controlled allocation out of more than 300,000 in use, Toyota said.

Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, has suspended most auto and parts production in Japan since the magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami that has left more than 27,000 people dead or missing. The company said last week it expects some North American auto production to be reduced because of likely parts shortages.

Toyota’s U.S. sales unit is based in Torrance, California.

Toyota Motor Corp. failed to warn a Long Island, New York, driver that his vehicle could unexpectedly accelerate, said a lawyer for a doctor who claims his 2005 Scion sped up uncontrollably and didn’t stop until he hit a tree.

Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, recalled millions of U.S. vehicles, starting in 2009, for defects related to sudden unintended acceleration. Amir Sitafalwalla’s lawsuit, filed in 2008, is the first such claim against Toyota to reach a jury trial in the U.S. since the recalls, reported Bloomberg.

“An accident did not simply happen,” Sitafalwalla’s lawyer, George N. Statfeld of Manhattan, said in his opening statement today in federal court in Central Islip on Long Island. “An accident was caused by the negligence” of Toyota.

“As soon as he attempted to place the vehicle in park – voom – it took off,” Statfeld told jurors and U.S. Magistrate Judge E. Thomas Boyle, who is presiding over the case.

Toyota is facing hundreds of lawsuits claiming lost vehicle value or personal injuries caused by incidents of sudden unintended acceleration. Sitafalwalla claims the automaker knew its vehicles could unintentionally speed up, leaving drivers at risk for accidents and injuries. Sitafalwalla, an emergency room physician, was injured in the October 2005 accident in the driveway of his Port Washington, New York, home.

The company disputes Sitafalwalla’s claim that there was a defect in his Scion or that any flaws caused the accident. Sitafalwalla’s vehicle wasn’t among those recalled.

“We’re here because Toyota Motor Sales firmly believes that there was no defect in this car,” Toyota attorney Brian Crosby said in his opening statement.

Evidence will show that Sitafalwalla “mistakenly put his foot on the accelerator and not on the brake,” Crosby told jurors.

Toyota began a series of recalls in September 2009, announcing that 3.8 million vehicles were being recalled because of a defect that may cause floor mats to jam down the accelerator pedal. In January 2010, the company recalled 2.3 million vehicles to fix sticking gas pedals.

The carmaker, based in Toyota City, Japan, said last month that it’s recalling another 2.17 million vehicles in the U.S. for carpet and floor-mat flaws that could jam gas pedals.

The recalls set off a wave of litigation, including suits by Toyota owners claiming alleged defects leading to sudden acceleration cost a massive loss in the value of their vehicles and claims by individuals or their families of injuries and deaths caused by such incidents.

Most of the federal lawsuits were combined before U.S. District Judge James V. Selna in Santa Ana, California, who is organizing the litigation and overseeing pre-trial evidence- gathering, or discovery. Selna has been pushing to have the first cases before him go to trial in early 2013. Sitafalwalla’s suit, which was filed before the recalls, wasn’t sent to Selna.

Many of the lawsuits claim that loose floor mats and sticky pedals don’t explain all episodes of sudden acceleration and that the electronic throttle system in Toyota vehicles is to blame.

Toyota has disputed any flaws in its electronic throttle control system. Last month, NASA, the U.S. space agency, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said their probe of possible electronics defects found no causes for unintended acceleration other than sticking accelerator pedals and floor mats that jammed the pedals.

Sitafalwalla claims in court papers that Toyota failed to correct a “faulty electronic throttle system” or “faulty floor mat components.” Sitafalwalla also claims Toyota knew of prior incidents like his and should have installed a “failsafe braking system to override any sudden unintended acceleration.”

Statfeld told jurors today that Sitafalwalla’s accident had three possible causes: the electronic throttle-control system caused the acceleration; the driver-side floor mat pushed onto the accelerator; or Toyota failed to install a brake-override system.

Defense lawyer Crosby, of Gibson, McAskill & Crosby in Buffalo, told the jury that the only way the car could go into a wide open throttle as it did was for the driver to apply the accelerator and not have his or her foot on the brake. A brake override system only works when the brake is applied, which it wasn’t in this case, he said.

Celeste Migliore, a Toyota spokeswoman, said in an e-mail statement today that “while we sympathize with anyone involved in an accident in one of our vehicles, Toyota intends to defend itself vigorously against Dr. Sitafalwalla’s unintended acceleration claim. We are confident that the evidence will show there was no electrical or mechanical malfunction of his vehicle’s electronic throttle control or braking systems, and that his claims of pedal entrapment cannot be substantiated.”

If the jury finds Toyota liable, it will hear evidence on what, if any, damages should be awarded.

The case is Sitafalwalla v. Toyota, 08-03001, U.S. District Court, Eastern District of New York (Central Islip).

Toyota Motor Corp. expects to halt some auto production at its plants in North America as a result of parts shortages stemming from the earthquake in Japan, the Japanese auto maker told employees on Wednesday.

“Our supply line has reached a point where it is clear we will incur some non-production time,” the company’s North American manufacturing arm said in a memo to workers. “The amount of non-production is still uncertain.”

The company said that the March 11 earthquake and tsunami that struck northern Japan cause “extensive damage” to many of parts suppliers that provide components to Toyota and other auto makers, reported The Wall Street Journal.

It added that “as of this time, we have an ample supply of most products, our ships continue to deliver vehicles to North America, we have reopened our parts plants in Japan and we are doing all we can to ensure our dealers have products available for customers.”

Toyota later released a statement saying it was “too early to predict location or duration” of the production shut downs.

The company said it is still receiving some parts that were in transit from Japan before the earthquake and that the majority of parts for its cars built in North America come from a network of 500 local parts makers.