Will Toyota’s defective product failures ever stop? First it was SUV rollover calamities. Then it was stuck accelerator pedal catastrophes. Now it’s bad brakes on Toyota’s Prius, the world’s top-selling gas-electric hybrid vehicle.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has begun investigating flaws in the 2010 Prius’ brakes, after its safety arm, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, fielded 124 complaints from consumers. Four of those complaints concerned brake-related accidents in the Japanese automaker’s hybrids.

It seems some Prius brakes fail to function properly when the vehicle travels over potholes, bumpy roads or surfaces which are slippery or uneven. That’s not good, especially when you consider how common such surfaces are on streets and highways. On them, a Prius’ braking might pause when the car shifts from its traditional hydraulic brakes to an electronic braking system.

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Each day, Americans are “hammered” with visual messages on TV and the Internet. But how many are trite, and how many are truly useful? Do we really need to know whose kitty can play the piano? Or do we need to know which defective drugs or injury accidents threaten our loved ones?

At Jim S. Adler & Associates, we’re trying to close the information gap not only in our website’s written content, but in its videos. That’s why we’ve created “Hammer TV,” a video-only Web service filled with helpful safety tips and information for keeping your family whole and healthy.

Named after longtime Texas personal injury attorney Jim “the Texas Hammer” Adler, Hammer TV hosts a variety of “Top Stories” videos on the dangers and costs of SUVs, ATVs, distracted drivers, salmonella food poisoning, uninsured motorists, defective drugs such as Paxil and — one of our biggest threats, literally — the risks posed by big rig, tractor trailer, semi truck and 18 wheeler vehicles.

But don’t worry: There’s also a human touch. Among Hammer TV’s “Top Stories” and “News on JSA Charities,” it offers looks at small children in need getting free “snow parties” or holiday clothes, and even an “up close and personal” look at the Texas Hammer himself, Jim Adler.

Hammer TV also has a touching tribute to Kevin Hills, a Texan who was killed by an 18 wheeler, and a heartwarming dedication to the staff and volunteers of Safe Kids Greater Houston, whose mission is to keep our kids safe.

Or check out Hammer TV’s “PSAs” tab for tips on road rage, water safety, kid safety and the dangers of texting while driving. Heck, you even can watch Jim Adler’s famed “TV Commercials” all in one place — and with no interruptions by annoying TV shows.

It’s all there for you — and for free — on Hammer TV. Tune in, and learn more.

Beyond that, the Texas Hammer has hard-hitting videos for you on YouTube and on Facebook.

On Facebook, check out Jim Adler’s latest flipcam interviews about Toyota’s massive stuck accelerator recall and why the Japanese automaker can’t be trusted, as well as his take on the computer screens coming to car dashboards this fall. Crazy, right?

Also on YouTube as well as on Facebook, watch the emotional video Jim Adler’s firm created for Mothers Against Drunk Driving and MADD Victim Services. Drunk drivers take a terrible toll in human life and in the anguish of victims’ survivors. This video puts a powerful face on them and is a moving reminder that we all have a responsibility to protect each other.

Call it reality TV with meaning and a message. Or call it Hammer TV. Either way, it’s here for you.

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In increasingly urban Texas, bicyclists and pedestrians are increasingly endangered. Yet Gov. Rick Perry last year vetoed a bill — passed overwhelmingly by the Senate and House — which would have offered  more protection to cyclists and walkers on or near our roads.

Now some cities, such as Austin, are enacting the same law on a municipal basis. And San Antonio may get one, too. A city council committee voted unanimously this week to send a “safe passing” ordinance for “vulnerable road uses” to the full council for approval next month.

Why is this vital? Because Texans are dying, and every bit helps. In 2008 alone, 50 Texans on bicycles were killed and 274 suffered incapacitating injuries in car-bicycle accidents. And every year, about 400 Texas pedestrians are killed by vehicles in car-pedestrian accidents.

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How often do you avoid car wrecks almost caused by drivers on cell phones? Or perhaps you’ve been injured already by such distracted drivers. In either case, the phone industry doesn’t care. Wireless service providers made $148 billion last year, and the thousands of Americans killed and hurt by distracted drivers using their product are treated as collateral damage.

Indeed, a recent study by the New York Times shows that cell providers have known for decades about the obvious risks of distracted drivers, but were reluctant to do anything about it other than giving token warnings about their product — while paying heavily in ads to pitch them to drivers.

In experimental stages as early as the 1940s, through costly status-symbol models of the 1980s, through the cell phone explosion of the 1990s, cell phones were pointedly marketed as portable, use-them-anywhere “car phones” — and that hasn’t changed. The cell industry has been determined to reap huge profits by turning drivers into callers, even if that meant many people would die or be injured in cell phone car accidents.

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Statistically, young women are among the least likely persons to have high blood pressure, heart attacks, blood clots, strokes and other cardiovascular ailments. Yet many American women are suffering in these ways — and even dying. That’s because they are users of one of three defective drugs sold as birth control pills: Yaz, Yasmin and Ocella.

Fortunately, these three brands are the only oral contraceptives which share the drug DRSP, or drospirenone. That drug has been known to cause serious health problems in the heart and kidneys, and also to cause breast lumps, numbness, depression, confusion, vision problems, migraine headaches and pulmonary embolism.

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Sure, cities have traffic jams, while the country has roadside vendors selling jams — and little traffic. But rural drivers should know this: You are more likely to die in a car or truck accident than those on packed  urban streets or freeways.

Why? Glad you asked. For one thing, people tend to drive faster on rural roads — and certainly have more freedom to do so, compared to city folk bogged down by numbers. Urbanites who are stalled at rush hour, take heart: At least your slow speed makes it less likely you’ll get hurt in a collision.

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An item in today’s San Antonio Express-News shows how far Texas has to go to treat pedestrians and cyclists with respect on our roads. It pertains to a horrible accident last week in which a San Antonio-area couple riding a tandem bicycle on a road’s shoulder were hit and killed by a pickup truck traveling 70 mph in a 65 mph zone.

The driver “lost control” — a common excuse for bad driving — and veered onto the shoulder, killing the two people.

No charges have been filed in the tragedy. Nor have charges been filed in the case of David Mollenauer, a San Antonio Symphony musician who was hit by a car while on his bike and left for dead earlier this year.

Mollenauer survived, and witnesses even got the car’s license number. Yet again, no charges have been filed, even though the driver’s identity is known.

Some say that’s because Texas treats cyclists and pedestrians as second-class citizens. If a car strikes property and damages it, then its driver is legally liable for negligence. If a car strikes a person in a motorcycle accident, bicycle accident or pedestrian accident, the car’s driver may face no penalty at all — even in a hit and run!

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With a national summit on distracted drivers set for this week, studies due today from the journal Pediatrics show that parents can have a huge effect on how effective — or distracted — their teen drivers become.

Conducted by Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, PA and given funding by State Farm Insurance Co., the studies show that parents who set specific driving boundaries and urge caution in their kids are a lot more likely to have kids who survive into adulthood. (more…)

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In today’s world of searing rhetoric and bombastic bumper stickers, you might hear or see two conflicting slogans: “Hang up and drive” and “You’ll take my cell phone when you pry it from my cold dead fingers.” Yet when the dust has cleared from a horrendous car accident, both messages just might serve the same end.

That end is safe driving without using a cell phone or PDA to text, dial, redial, read texts, send texts, talk endlessly or otherwise take your mind and eyes away from the road while you act like a doctor who’s on call 24/7. Would you try passing a driver’s license test while diverted this way? No, and for good reason. You could kill yourself or someone else. Haven’t done so yet? As they say, always a first time.

Starting Sept. 1, a new Texas law drives that message home, making it illegal to use a cell phone — except for a hands-free device — while driving in school zones where such signs are posted. Those signs, sadly, are the rub — more on that later.

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Who knew?
Turns out the federal government did six years ago. When it said nothing, thousands of Americans lost their lives. Others were seriously injured. And the nation is now stuck with a “serious and growing threat on America’s roadways.”
That’s the nutshell version of a shocking story in the July 21, 2009 edition of The New York Times about government suppression of vital safety information. The news does not surprise personal injury attorney Jim Adler who has long railed against government agencies that neglect their duty to protect the public.

“That’s why we call ourselves safety lawyers,” Adler said. “Remember the Ford Pinto and its exploding gas tank that killed so many in accidents? After Ford got sued by personal injury lawyers who won big settlements for victims, it redesigned that killer car. The same goes for those knobs on dashboards that used to seriously injure people in accidents. We got rid of them too. Now one of the biggest dangers on the road is caused by cell phones.”

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