Japanese automaker Toyota recently agreed to pay more than $3.4 billion in order to settle a federal class action suit brought by owners of pickup trucks and SUVs in the United States. The plaintiffs said that frames of affected cars have the tendency to pick up rust.

The proposed settlement agreement will cover nearly 1.5 million Tacoma compact pickups, Sequoia SVUs, and Tundra full-size pickups. Court papers revealed that these models received inadequate rust protection, which could lead to corrosion and end up jeopardizing the structural integrity of the cars.

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In supporting court papers, Toyota will be paying an estimated value of $3.375 billion in order to replace the compromised frames of affected trucks, according to BBC News. This includes $15,000 for each frame and inspection costs of about $90 million at $60 per vehicle.

In a statement acquired by Reuters, Toyota said, "We want our customers to have a great ownership experience, so we are pleased to resolve this litigation in a way that benefits them and demonstrates that we stand behind the quality and reliability of our vehicles."

The settlement agreement was reached on Oct. 31. It will cover Toyota Tacoma trucks with model years from 2005 to 2010, Toyota Sequoia models from 2005 to 2008, and Toyota Tundra between 2007 and 2008 model years.

Toyota also agreed to pay attorneys' fees amounting to $9.75 million, $150,000 in costs and expenses, and $2,500 to each of the eight named class representatives and cost of advertising.

Toyota is yet to announce when the company plans to initiate the recall in order to fix the affected vehicles.

TagsToyota, toyota lawsuit, class action lawsuit, toyota case, toyota class action lawsuit, Toyota truck rust lawsuit