Did a Car Seat Defect Cause My Child’s Injuries?
Every parent wants the best for their child, and that includes car seats. While many parents spend hours researching the safest car seats for their little ones, I think many wouldn't even consider that the highly-rated car seat they purchased at the end of that search still might fail when it's needed most. To make...
3 Types of Rollover Crashes and Why They Matter to Victims
Rollover crashes are frightening and often fatal. Most people know a rollover accident when they see one, but part of our government's work to prevent these crashes involves defining and classifying what a rollover is. The National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA), defines a rollover as any crash where a vehicle impacts the ground on its...
Are Automakers Liable if a Roof Collapses in a Rollover Crash?
Rollover crashes account for less than 3% of all passenger vehicle accidents, but are responsible for almost 35% of all highway fatalities, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS). Of course, automakers cannot create vehicles that will never be in a rollover crash; however, most people assume that rollover crashes will be deadly...
Are Vehicle Fires Always Product Liability Cases?
In July 2018, the United States Fire Administration (USFA) published a Fire Report Series that found that the US averages 345 deaths and 1,300 injuries due to vehicle fires every year. Additionally, the report found that 80 percent of these fires occur in our everyday passenger vehicles. What is most startling though, is that "unintentional actions...
What Do I Do If My Seatback Failed and Injured Me?
I previously wrote about the dangers of seatback failure and how safety experts believe the current design standards are too lax and severely outdated. Now the pressing question for some people is, "What are my options if I was seriously injured or lost a loved one due to seatback failure?" Manufacturers Have a Duty to...
Is My Vehicle Defective if it Doesn’t Have Crash Avoidance Technology?
In this day and age, many in the vehicle safety community believe there’s really no excuse for vehicles not to include Crash Avoidance Technology (CAT) as a standard feature. According to these experts, it is irresponsible and harmful for automakers to exclude the software and hardware that can help drivers stay away from other vehicles...
What Is the Government Doing to Prevent Vehicle Seatback Failures? Not Much.
For years automakers and vehicle safety organizations have gone back and forth about vehicle seat design and seatback failure. Automakers maintain that “yielding seats” limit injuries in low-speed rear impacts, and that if vehicle seats were stiffer, those low-speed rear accidents would result in more severe injuries. The problem is, that this argument originated in...
How Many Crashes Are Caused By Vehicle Defects?
According to the National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Survey (2005-07) between 28,500 and 59,100 crashes per year in the United States are due to a vehicle component failure or degradation. Clearly, this is alarming, and I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but this estimation most likely falls short of the actual number....
Can Automakers Start Making Rollover Crashes Less Dangerous?
Rollover collisions can result in severe outcomes like traumatic brain injuries, spinal trauma, paralysis, amputations, and even death. According to national statistics from 2014 to 2018, only 2 percent of vehicles in all traffic crashes were involved in rollover crashes, but 24 percent of all fatalities resulted from rollover crashes. These statistics demonstrate that rollover...
Ford Recalls Almost 2,000,000 Trucks For Seat Belt Fire Hazard
A major auto manufacturer released a new recall for millions of affected pickup trucks, effective September 6. As a change of pace from the increasingly-predictable airbag recalls that fill automotive news, this recall involves another major Supplemental Restraint System—the seat belts. More accurately, it affects the components that actually make seat belts able to stop...
Over 150,000 Chrysler/Jeep Vehicles Recalled for Brake Defect
Fiat Chrysler Automobiles is once again issuing a recall for several makes, models, and years of SUVs and minivans in its fleet, but so far the defect in question hasn't injured the people driving these affected vehicles. Let's take a closer look at what's happening. Who Makes This Product? Anyone who glances at the news...
Kia, Hyundai Recall Over a Million Vehicles for Possible Electronic Airbag Defect
Injury Relief readers may notice a theme that often pops up in our blog: When it comes to automotive defects, the airbag seems to be a recurring culprit. That disturbing trend continues in a recall issued by Kia and Hyundai. According to the company and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), Kia Motors (and...
Fiat Chrysler Recalls Millions of Vehicles for Cruise Controls That Might Not Disengage
Fiat Chrysler is once again making headlines with a sizable and serious recall. While previous recalls involved everything from fire hazards to disabled seatbelt pretensioners, ranging in scope and severity, the newest recall apparently involves a software bug that could keep a vehicle's cruise control engaged even when the driver tries to cancel it. That's...
Bum Steer: Ford Recalls 1.4 Million Vehicles for Potential Detaching Steering Wheels
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Cars are complex machines, and they've only gotten more so with over a century of technological refinement. Having noted that a working vehicle is something of a mechanical marvel and that the layman might not fully understand its every working, it's also safe to say most...
Don’t Take Airbags For Granted. They Don’t Always Work As Intended.
One of the most recognizable developments in vehicle safety, since the first gas-powered carriages wobbled down dirt roads in the late 19th century, is the airbag. Since they were patented in 1951, airbags have gone into almost every vehicle that can carry one. Everyone's aware of them, but I believe many people take their effectiveness...
A Fire In a 2015 Nissan Juke Shouldn’t Have Been Possible After a 2014 Recall.
In late 2014, Nissan issued a serious recall related to its Juke model vehicle, classified as a "subcompact crossover" or "mini SUV." It resembles a standard SUV but is scaled down closer to sedan or hatchback proportions. In case that description sounds like the beginning of a pitch, I'm not trying to sell anybody this...
Ford Explorer Carbon Monoxide Issues Take Austin PD SUVs Off the Road
News recently broke that the Austin Police Department is pulling its fleet of 400 Ford Explorers off of the road due to officers showing symptoms of carbon monoxide (CO) poisoning and testing positive for elevated levels of the chemical in their bloodstream. So far, blood tests on 18 officers have detected elevated levels of CO....
Volvo Recalls 79,000 Cars and SUVS for Defects in the Seat Belts They Invented
One would think that the company that invents a life-saving product found in millions of vehicles around the world that they would be the last ones to have issues with that product. If one had Volvo and the three-point safety belt in mind, one would be in for a surprise. Whose Cars Have This Problem?...
ARC Automotive Under NHTSA Investigation for Possibly Faulty Airbags, Refuses to Cooperate
I'm sure by now most people are familiar with the word "Takata." If they don't recognize the name, the controversy that popularized it is even more familiar; the Japanese auto-parts manufacturer is responsible for one of the largest worldwide vehicle recalls of all time. American and Japanese automakers contracted with Takata to provide airbag assemblies...
Tesla Model S Crashes, Battery Cells Ignite in Pyrotechnic Display
Does anybody else like retro-futurism? You may have seen examples of it without knowing its name, but the label applies to what people of previous periods in history thought the future would look like. For instance, concept art generated in the fifties depicts smiling people in silvery jumpsuits strolling across a gleaming Martian city toward...
