Articles Posted in Defective Products

Ford Motor Co. recalled nearly 850,000 vehicles, including two of its most popular models, last week over concerns that an electrical glitch could cause the vehicle’s air bags to malfunction during an accident.

According to reports by the Wall Street Journal, the Michigan automaker recalled 2013 and 2014 model year Ford sedans, Escape crossovers, C-Max hybrids and the Lincoln MKZ luxury cards sold in North America, Canada and Mexico. The reasoning behind the recall was that the vehicle’s restraint control module has the potential to disable both front and side curtain airbags during a crash, which ultimately would increase the risk for injury for passengers. The shortage would illuminate the vehicle’s air bag warning light. The company stated that at the present time, it is unaware of any accidents that have been caused by the suspected malfunction.
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According to an article published by the National Trial Lawyers, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has announced that Hyundai will pay $17.35 million in civil penalties and comply with NHTSA oversight requirements for failing to report a safety-related defect in one of its car models.

The defect in question affects the 2009-2012 Hyundai Genesis car model and its brake system. The NHTSA has reported that the critical brake system components may corrode, leading to reduced effectiveness of brakes and an increase in the risk of a car crash.

“Safety is our top priority, and all automakers should understand that there is no excuse for failing to report a safety-related defect, as required by law,” U.S. Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx said in the NHTSA news release. “This Administration will act aggressively and hold automakers accountable when they put the American public at risk.”

NHTSA determined that Hyundai had been aware in 2012 that brake fluids used in the model year 2009-2012 Hyundai Genesis did not sufficiently inhibit corrosion in key components of the vehicle’s brake system. Hyundai, instead of issuing a recall, instructed car dealers to change the brake fluid in affected vehicles without explaining the consequences of failing to change the brake fluid. Hyundai did not inform Genesis-model owners of the potential safety consequences of not having their brake fluid replaced. It was only after an investigation by the NHTSA that Hyundai finally issued a recall of the affected vehicles.

The NHTSA said in their news release, that there have not been any reported fatalities relating to this safety defect. However six consumers reported collisions, and there were two reports of injuries. As of January 14, 2014, Hyundai had received 87 consumer complaints with regard to Genesis vehicles, most of which suggest increased difficulty in braking.

According to NHTSA Acting Administrator David Friedman, “Federal law requires automakers to report safety-related defects to NHTSA within five days, and neither NHTSA nor the American public will accept anything less. Hyundai failed to act to protect their customers and others that were harmed in an accident, and must change the way they deal with all safety related defects.”

Hyundai has agreed to make improvements to its processes for identifying, reporting, and communicating safety-related defects in a timely manner. This includes the creation of a U.S. Technical Committee to review and make decisions regarding potential Hyundai-specific safety recalls. Hyundai will ultimately be responsible for responding to safety concerns in a timely manner based on the Technical Committee’s recommendations.
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Each year, millions of vehicles are recalled in the United States because of safety defects or noncompliance with federal safety standards. To assist car buyers, owners and renters in figuring out whether their vehicles are safe and there are no outstanding safety defects, the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) created a new, free, online search tool which consumers can now use to find out if a vehicle is directly impacted by a recall.

The new tool is available on www.safercar.gov/vinlookup and provides consumers with a quick and easy way to identify uncompleted recalls by entering their Vehicle Identification Number (VIN). All major vehicle and motorcycle brands may be searched.

Effective this week, under the new NHTSA mandate, all major light vehicle and motorcycle manufacturers are required to provide VIN search capability for uncompleted recalls on their own websites. This data must be updated at least weekly, according to NHTSA’s press release. NHTSA’s new VIN look-up tool directly relies on information from all major automakers, and regularly updated information from the automakers is critical to the efficiency of the search tool.

According to the NHTSA’s website: Consumers are able to find their vehicle identification number by looking at the dashboard on the driver’s side of the vehicle, or on the driver’s side door where the door latches when it is closed. Determining whether there is a recall that consumers need to fix is simple-after entering the VIN number into the field, results will appear if the consumer has an open recall on their vehicle, and if there are none, owners will see “No Open Recalls.”

NHTSA Deputy Administrator David Friedman, said “Just as every single automaker should never hesitate to recall a defective vehicle, consumers should never hesitate to get their recalled vehicle fixed.”

The goal of the NHTSA’s new online search tool is to help customers make informed decisions about the cars they are buying and to further aid the watchdog’s mission to increase public safety.
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Over 600 victims involved in crashes with recalled General Motors cars have gone to federal court to seek compensation from the automaker, CNN reports.

According to CNN, the majority of the victims of this case, including 29 people who died, are not eligible to receive compensation from the fund that GM had established back in May, because their cars were not part of GM’s recalls.

GM has recalled more than 26 million other cars and trucks so far this year for a variety of problems, and most of those involve other problems with ignition switches.

Victims and their lawyers have raised concerns over whether the formula calculated by GM’s fund administrator Kenneth Feinberg is accurate or fair.

“This makes absolutely no sense that the fund is restricted to the first 2.6 million vehicles initially recalled for ignition switch issues,” said Robert Hilliard, a Corpus Christi, Texas personal injury attorney who has been one of the leading attorneys pressing GM on the recall crisis. “GM needs to step up and acknowledge the blood on its hands from all of these recalled cars.”

Starting tomorrow, victims may file a claim for compensation and still proceed with the lawsuit. If they decide to accept the final amount offered to them by the fund, they will have to drop out of the suit at that time. GM estimates that it will pay at least $400 million through the compensation fund, although there is no cap on amount it will pay.
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Automaker General Motors is recalling yet another 822,000 cars in six new recalls, upping its total number of recalls this year to 60 recalls. The new recalls means that already this year, GM has recalled 29 million million autos globally.

The latest recall involves numerous safety issues, including those affecting air bags, car seats, turn signals, power steering, and other faulty parts. A number of the autos included in this recall were part of some of the earlier recalls involving other safety concerns.

GM is also recalling around 475,000 autos over a defect that may cause the front and passenger seats to lift and lower due to a loose bolt. Different models of the Cadillac SRX, the Chevrolet Equinox and Camaro, the Buck Regal and LaCrosse, and the GMC Terraine are affected. Already, one crash and three injuries have been reported.

A jury has ordered Honda Motor Co. to pay $55.3 million to a man who is now paralyzed. Carlos Martinez, 57, contended that a faulty seat belt design in his Acura Integra led to his spinal cord injuries.

The seat belt defect-related accident occurred in 2010. One of the tires on his car blew out, causing him to lose control of the auto, which then rolled over. According to his auto defect lawyer, that is when the seat belt failed to keep Martinez’s head from striking the roof of the vehicle.

Martinez, who has four children and was formerly a construction worker, is permanently paralyzed from the chest down. The damages he was awarded include compensation for pain and suffering, loss of consortium, future medical costs, and loss of earnings.

General Motors has yet again announced six new safety recalls today making it the single largest collective recall for the company this year. This new round of recalls involves more than 7.5 million vehicles in the United States.

To date, the company has called back more than 25 million vehicles in the United States for safety-related repairs, according to USA TODAY. This total recall is comparable to all recalls issued for all automakers in recent years.

The company is under heavy scrutiny by the public as well as auto watchdogs including the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, since its first safety recall for faulty ignition switches which have been linked to 13 deaths in the U.S. alone.

According to USA TODAY, the majority of the vehicles in the latest announcement, (more than 6.8 million in the U.S.) are covered by a single new recall that extends the small-car ignition switch issue – “unintended ignition key rotation” that can shut off the engine while underway – to more midsize and full-size GM cars.

GM spokesman Alan Adler says although the latest recall’s ignition switches met GM’s specifications, there are fears that if they are bumped or jarred, they can pop into “accessory,” disabling the car’s airbags.
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