| Dec 30 |
Enterprise pays $18 million to rental car victim
How could it be dangerous? The answer is simple and it points out a major flaw in government transportation standards. Car rental companies don’t have to repair recalled cars before renting or selling them. Consumer groups are urging the government to change that because the practice leads to car accidents. |
Commercials make renting a car seem so easy. The airways are full of car rental deals. A quick call puts drivers in any car they want, commercials say. The company will even deliver it. The service is fast, efficient and dangerous.
| Dec 29 |
Child Safety prompts Chevrolet pickup recall
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An important safety feature that could save a child from severe injuries in some mid-size GM and Isuzu pick-ups does not meet American and Canadian standards for car seats. As a result, more than 192,000 of the pickups are being recalled. They include the Chevrolet Colorado and GMC Canyon models from the 2004 to 2011 model years, the Isuzu I-280 and I-350 pickups from 2008 and I-370 pickups made in 2007 and 2008.| Dec 28 |
Faulty hip replacements heartbreaking
The clicking sound was the first sign the Champaign, Illinois woman had that something might be terribly wrong with the device doctors put in her hip. It turns out the doctors themselves had no idea that the DePuy device had a high failure rate. |
Imagine walking down the street making a clicking sound with every step that is so loud people stare. That’s what happened to Kim Horbas the summer after she had hip replacement surgery in February 2008 with a device made by a division of Johnson & Johnson, DePuy Orthopaedics, Inc.| Dec 14 |
Toyota defects victims boosted by judge’s support for sudden acceleration, bad brake lawsuits
In U.S. District Court in Santa Ana, CA, Toyota had moved to dismiss key causes of action in 51 lawsuits pending against it. But Judge James V. Selna issued a preliminary opinion to deny this. Instead, lawsuits can proceed against Toyota for negligence, design defects, failure to warn and fraudulent concealment. |
A federal judge in California has ruled in favor of plaintiffs in Toyota lawsuits over defective cars which were flawed by such problems as sudden acceleration and | Oct 22 |
Toyota recalls over brakes, accelerator failures may mandate defective products lawsuits
At this rate, Toyota will be recalling more cars than it continues to sell. It seems like whenever Toyota recalls cars over safety concerns, a slew of new Toyota TV ads run, urging people to buy the cars despite all the bad news. And people keep on buying, perhaps expecting a better deal due to the bad publicity and perhaps guessing the odds are in their favor. |
After Toyota recalled almost 10 million cars in recent months, you’d think that would have about covered the Japan-based automaker’s | Oct 19 |
Spa toys recalled over defective lids’ explosion hazard to child safety
The recall involves 516,000 Spa Factory Aromatherapy Fountain and Bath Benefits Kits which have improperly unventilated lids for jars of Bath Fizzies or Bath Bombs/Balls. When lacking proper vent holes, those lids can explode off the jar and cause injury, as they reportedly have for 26 children. The contents inside also can create citric acid and irritate eyes. |
A spa toy for girls has proven defective and is subject to a child safety recall announced jointly by JAKKS Pacific and the Consumer Product Safety Commission.| Jan 22 |
Toyota, Lexus stuck accelerator in a car crash merits a defective product lawsuit
Last October, four people died near San Diego due to a stuck Toyota accelerator pedal. They were a California Highway Patrol officer and his family of three. Almost four million such vehicles are on America’s roads. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration investigated and initially dismissed many incidents, though hundreds were reported. Yet the accidents, injuries and fatalities mounted. Finally, the NHTSA and Toyota — which also owns Lexus — asked drivers of the defective Toyota and Lexus vehicles to remove their driver’s side floor mat and not replace it. This safety measure pertains to models from 2004-2010. |
Toyota and Lexus cars have a defect, and as a result, Americans are dying. It’s a stuck accelerator pedal, which gets snagged on a floor mat. Braking alone will not stop a car that’s in full and constant acceleration, which is why scores of Americans have been injured or killed.| Jan 22 |
Graco baby stroller defective product recall spurred by children’s fingertip amputations
Graco Children’s Products Inc. of Atlanta, which produces the strollers sold at Target, Wal-Mart and other retailers, this week issued a recall of 1.5 million strollers, all made in China. Other retailers selling them between October 2004 and last December are Kmart, Sears, Fred Meyer, Burlington Coat Factory, AAFES, Navy Exchange, Meijer, Babies R Us and Toys R Us. |
American babies are being harmed by strollers which are supposed to protect them. Instead, certain model numbers of Alano, Passage, Travel Systems and Spree Strollers are causing fingertip amputations or cut fingers in infants who put their digits in canopy hinges as strollers open or close.