Family's fatal outing becomes heart of Toyota controversy

Accident involved Filipino siblings

SANTEE, Calif. — The Friday night trip began at the end of a week's vacation, a family outing to a women's college soccer game just days before Mahala Saylor, 13, would begin life as a high school freshman.

The trip ended in August 2009 with a 911 call and the fiery wreck of a loaner Lexus sedan, killing Mahala, her parents, Mark and Cleofe Saylor, both 45, and her uncle, Chris Lastrella, 38.

Even veteran investigators said it was the worst crash they had ever seen.

On Wednesday, Fe Lastrella, mother of Cleofe Saylor and Chris Lastrella and grandmother of Mahala, is to tell members of a congressional committee about her family and question whether a floor mat trapping the gas pedal — as regulators say they believe — is the sole reason for the accident.

Rarely, if ever, has one family's fatal crash had such an impact, forcing the world's largest automaker to admit thousands of sudden-acceleration complaints, recall more than 8 million vehicles worldwide and answer growing questions from Congress and consumers about its safety record.

"They were a solid family. They were quiet people, but their presence was always felt," said Charlotte Fajardo, president of the Bicol Club, a San Diego group for Filipino residents that the Saylors belonged to. "You don't really appreciate it until it's not here."

The Saylor family lived in the sprawling San Diego suburb of Chula Vista, in a house filled with running shoes and soccer balls and scripture.

On the evening of Aug. 28, 2009, the four set out — to the best anyone knows — for the soccer game between the University of Southern California and the University of San Diego women's teams, taking state highway 125 north from their house.

They were in a Lexus on loan from their Toyota dealer, a car they did not know had been reported by its previous borrower as speeding out of control.

They had no way to know their drive would become the epicenter of controversy and questions about Toyota's sudden acceleration scandal.

Mark Saylor, 45, had worked an early shift at the California Highway Patrol safety inspection office in San Diego that day, overseeing reviews of school buses and tow trucks. A back injury had taken him off road patrols years earlier, but he still carried his ticket book and gun.

Cleofe Saylor, 45, was a biochemist and a senior research associate at genetics firm Ambryx in San Diego. A native of the Philippines, she and Mark married 14 years earlier and were regulars in the Bonita Valley Community Church. They wrote Bible verses on note cards, and devotional messages such as: "What I want to accomplish today as a Christian."

Her work involved developing new genetic treatments for cancer and other diseases. The week before the game, she had taken a staycation — using vacation time at home to get Mahala ready for her first year of high school.

Barney Barrett, her co-worker at Ambryx, said Cleofe Saylor was reserved but had a strong bond with her friends.

"She had this way about her that other believers were drawn to her," he said.

Mahala was a forward for the Chula Vista Rangers soccer team. Mark Saylor had been a coach in her previous league, becoming known as the soccer dad — complete with minivan — who stayed for all the games and practices.

Juliet Tengco's daughter played with Mahala in one of her leagues, and she called the Saylors her "soccer family."

"I always saw Cleofe and Mark at the games supporting Mahala and the team," she wrote in a tribute. "You could rely on Mark to have an extra ball, a pump, first aid supplies and anything else needed for the soccer season. They were definitely an involved family."

Mahala wrote messages to herself as well on sticky notes: "Focus," "Be a leader!" and "Take the trash out on Thursdays."

In the backseat next to Mahala was Cleofe's brother, Chris Lastrella, who was living with his sister's family and working at a nearby university while trying to launch a career in voice-over work. He had left his previous career selling mortgages after the real estate bust, but had done well enough to take the extended family on a vacation to Maui.

It's his voice, captured in a 911 call made 49 seconds before the crash, that has been the key evidence so far of why the Lexus ES350 borrowed from a dealer sped out of control.

"Our accelerator is stuck. We're on 125," Lastrella says.

911 Dispatcher: "What are you passing?"

"We're going 120 at Mission Gorge. And we're in trouble. We can't . . . there's no brakes. End freeway a half mile."

Lawyers for families say that by the time Chris Lastrella dialed 911, they believe, Mark Saylor had done all he could to shut down the vehicle. They don't ask dispatchers for help or how they can control the car; Mark Saylor has the vehicle's warning flashers on, and may have been trying to warn other drivers.

The call ends with the men saying "hold on" and "pray," before the sound of impact with the bank of a dry riverbed. The car went airborne and rolled twice before landing and catching fire, likely from its white-hot brakes.

The crash hit the Saylors' community hard. More than 200 people came to their memorial service. Twelve Chula Vista Rangers wore white jerseys in their Labor Day tournament, each with a letter made of blue tape that spelled out "MAHALA SAYLOR."

Today, the scene is marked by fading flowers. The two sections of post-and-rail fence replaced after the crash have almost weathered into the rest.

"It's hard to not have her (Cleofe) around," Barnett said. "Still to this day, I expect her to walk in the door." - JUSTIN HYDE, DETROIT FREE PRESSFEBRUARY 23, 2010, http://www.montrealgazette.com