Ford Recalls 270K Broncos, Mavericks for Potential Battery Failure Defect
On January 17, 2025, Ford Motor Company submitted recall 25S02 to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) for just over 270,000 Bronco SUVs and Maverick pickup trucks. According to reports, the recalled vehicles may have 12-volt batteries that could fail unexpectedly. Let's take a closer look at the information contained in the recall and...
NHTSA Investigates Almost 900K GM Vehicles for Possible Engine Defect
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recently announced it will open an investigation into almost 900,000 General Motors vehicles, all pickup trucks and SUVs, that may have a critical defect in their engines that causes them to fail or seize up unexpectedly. Today we're going to look at all the facts that have so far been...
Vehicle Recall Numbers Dropped in 2024, but Let’s Not Celebrate Just Yet
Statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimate that around 27.7 million vehicles were subject to one kind of recall or another over the course of 2024. That's a whole lot of potentially-hazardous hardware rolling around on the road, but that number by itself is just one part of a bigger story—and not...
NHTSA Upgrades Probe of Possible Honda E-Brake Defect Affecting Almost 3 Million Vehicles
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) recently announced an upgrade to an investigatory probe its offices are conducting on close to three million Honda Accord and CR-V models. The probe's focus is on numerous reports of unexpected automated emergency braking system activation, which may have caused numerous crashes and injuries. What's the Problem with...
Ford Recalls 91,000 EcoBoost Vehicles for Possible Engine Failure Defect
In automotive news, Ford Motor Company recently filed recall documents with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) about the potential for engine failure in almost 91,000 "EcoBoost" vehicles from both their Ford and Lincoln product lines. That's obviously a very serious issue, so I wanted to take a closer look at the details. What's...
Honda Recalls Almost 1.7 Million Vehicles for Potential Steering Defect
You'd be hard pressed to find an auto manufacturer without a long history of vehicle recalls, and Honda is no exception. Transmission failures, gas fume leaks, and even the dreaded Takata airbag debacle have plagued their vehicles in the past. Their troubles even continue to this day—or at least to October 3—when Honda recalled just...
Kia Recalls 420,000+ Telluride SUVs for Potential Driveshaft Defect
If anything about a vehicle should be predictable, it's that a stopped one will stay put. In other words, when you shift your car into Park you might reasonably expect that's the last the car will move until you shift back out. As some Kia drivers are learning, though, sometimes things aren't that simple—which is...
GM Recalls 130,000+ Silverado, Sierra Pickups for Tailgate Problem
In late November, General Motors announced a recall of thousands of Chevy Silverado and GMC Sierra pickup trucks. According to the recall details, the trucks' tailgates might randomly open while they are parked. Below we'll talk more about the possible risks of that defect, why the recall is important, and what people affected by it...
Hyundai Recalls 42,000+ Vehicles for Possible Wiring Defect
In late November, Hyundai Motor America issued a recall of more than 42,000 Tucson SUVs and Santa Cruz truck/SUV hybrids for a possible wiring defect that could make them roll away unexpectedly. Today we'll talk about what the recall says, what it means, and what Hyundai owners with those vehicles can do. How Big is...
How Concerned Should I Be about News Reports of Electric Bicycles Catching on Fire?
I first heard about electric bicycles (aka e-bikes) catching fire when a writer for the United Kingdom-based newspaper The Guardian wrote a piece stating that in 2022 there were "about 200 fires and six deaths" in New York alone due to e-bike fires and that, in November 2022, an e-bike fire in an apartment "became...
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?
Technology can save lives, especially in the auto industry. In today's 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...
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...
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 crashes...
Worth the Weight? Cybex Recalls Weight-Lifting Equipment For Major Injury Risks
Most gyms may never have dangerously broken machines, and more power to them for keeping their members safe. It only takes one incident, though: For a lone weightlifter with God as his only spotter, it can be a harrowing experience if the machine malfunctions. That's the situation for 15,000 Smith machine-style weight racks that are...
Blender Blunder: Vitamix Recalls Over 100,000 Blender Containers for Possible Laceration Hazard
This isn't the first time we've written about a blender recall, and for all I know it won't be the last. I'm no engineer, but it feels like in 2018 it shouldn't be too complicated to put a cup on a weed-whacker. Despite that we've seen a rash of safety defects announced by various kitchen-device...
Fentanyl, The Opioid Crisis, and Products Liability Law
You've probably heard or read the phrase "opioid crisis" in the news. Better and more careful explanations of the growing worldwide problem are available with a quick Google search. For now let me just say that one of the panic's major elements is the pharmaceutical opiate fentanyl. Everyone from medical professionals to government agencies seem...
