Charlottesville Personal Injury Lawyer

First Accelerators, Then Brakes

Paul Thomson — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 10:05:09 GMT

Toyota is facing even more scrutiny, if that's even possible. USA Today reports that Toyota said that they fixed a problem with 2010 Prius brakes in production, and now the company is coming under fire for failing to report the braking issue as a safety defect to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). The agency began an investigation to explore the braking issue. "NHTSA has 124 complaints of a 'momentary loss of braking' when　Priuses go over bumps. Four involve crashes, two with minor injuries." Most complaints involve a breaking lag time of 1-2 seconds, which may not seem like much. However, "a car goes 88 feet per second at 60 miles per hour, so a one-second lapse is serious." Clearly, Toyota cannot be held responsible for their own behavior. It is high time that the company is　penalized for their irresponsibility, both in lack of reporting break issues and in acceleration problems. Toyota is facing civil penalties for withholding information about acceleration problems.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Thomson

Toyota Continues to Cause Trouble

Paul Thomson — Fri, 05 Feb 2010 00:01:00 GMT

The Charleston Gazette reported on a lawsuit filed in November in West Virginia, that claims 13 Toyota and Toyota-made Lexus models with an electronic throttle-control system (ETCS) that allegedly have "a dangerous propensity to suddenly accelerate without driver input and against the intentions of the driver." The model years go back as far as 2002 and 1998 for Lexuses. Toyota, who has come under fire for sudden acceleration problems in the past several months, recalled millions of vehicles this month, including popular models such as the Camry, Avalon, RAV4, and Tundra. However, "in the United States, the recall includes eight models, and goes back as far as 2005, and does not include any cars made by the automaker's Lexus division."

This strange disconnect between the models that include the problematic ETCS becomes even more suspicious when it is noted that during "an investigation by a federal agency in 2004, the information provided by Toyota officials was limited in scope so as to exclude incidents that lasted longer than one second or where the driver couldn't stop the unwanted surge by applying the brake." This caused the most serious incidents and fatal crashes to be excluded from the investigation. The lawsuit states, "Toyota, through [Toyota Motor North America], thus deceptively concealed from [the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration], as well as from the news media and consumer safety groups that monitor NHTSA safety defect investigations, an entire universe of potentially relevant customer complaints."

When acceleration problems first emerged into the public due to a fatal crash in California, the company tried to blame the problem on floor mats and urged customers to remove mats until a solution was found. However, a subsequent fatal accident in which floor mats had been removed, revealing that there is clearly a deeper issue. It seems evident that the ETCS is to blame, because there is not a foolproof override system, found in other company's vehicles with electronic systems.

There is some question that political connections could be to blame for the lack of responsible action from Toyota or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA). A mutually beneficial relationship between the two could be to blame for the half-hearted recalls and investigations. Perhaps these recent events will cause NHTSA to get its house in order.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Thomson

Drop-Side Cribs Recalled Due to Child's Death

Paul Thomson — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 12:00:00 GMT

Dorel-Asia recently recalled about 635,000 drop-side cribs after a six-month-old died in Iowa. The cribs are dangerous because the drop-side can detach, leaving a gap in which children can become trapped, possibly ending with strangulation. Also, the slats on the side of the crib can break easily, also posing a risk for entrapment. In the case of the six-month-old child, the drop-side had broken and the child's parents had attempted to fix the crib using duct tape. Parents MUST realize the hazards their child face and stop using the drop-side cribs immediately. An article from the LA Times states, "The cribs were manufactured in China and Vietnam and sold at Wal-Mart, Kmart and Sears stores nationwide from January 2005 through December 2009 for $120 to $700." Several models of the cribs are being recalled.

The safety commission said consumers should immediately stop using the recalled cribs, find an alternative place for their children to sleep and contact Dorel Asia at (866) 762-2304 or www.dorel-asia.com to receive a free replacement kit."

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Thomson

New Measures Being Considered for Crib Safety

Paul Thomson — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 09:17:30 GMT

Bloomberg Press reported on discussions within the Consumer Product Safety Commission surrounding safety standards for cribs. The design of drop-side cribs has been a continual problem, resulting in several deaths and many injuries. According to the article, over 7 million cribs have been recalled since 2007. Usually, companies offer customers a free repair kit to fix the defect, but the CPSC is concerned that the kits are not being utilized and the hazardous cribs are still being used. They are "considering requiring crib makers to provide customers with refunds and other monetary incentives when the companies’ products are recalled." This would be more of an incentive to replace the defective crib. The agency is also considering six steps to improve how recalls are handled. Hopefully these measures will protect children from the dangers of unsafe cribs.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Thomson

U.S. DOT Secretary: "Enormous Effort" Taken to Get Toyota to Recall Vehicles

Greg Webb — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:45:19 GMT

U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has gone on record stating that it took "an enormous effort" to get Toyota to recall vehicles that were experiencing sudden acceleration problems due to a gas pedal defect that can cause them to stick. While he noted that he was glad to see Toyota finally taking action, he also made it clear that the investigation into Toyota, the defects, and the implementation of the recall is not over. If federal safety officials had not pushed for the recalls, LaHood says Toyota wouldn’t have done a thing.

Toyota claims that the recall is in response to a few reports it received in October. However, the automaker has also stated that it had received reports of faulty pedals as early as March 2007, and revised their gas pedal design twice prior to issuing the recall.

Similarly, Toyota had to be pushed by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to issue its initial recall for floor mats that could potentially cause gas pedals to get stuck against the floor. This defect has caused at least five deaths in two accidents, according to the NHTSA, while safety advocates claim the defects are linked to at least 19 deaths.

The important point to note here is that, unlike what Toyota's executives may want the public to think, Toyota has not undertaken this recall out of a sense of doing what is right, but instead was dragged kicking and screaming, it appears, to issue the recall. This type of conduct by the automobile industry is fairly typical, in my experience. The inustry likes to term the recalls as "voluntary", but usually the recalls are essentially forced upon the manufacturer by NHTSA when the manufacturer balks. The bean counters at Toyota are probably having heart palpitations.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Greg Webb

Honda Recalls 646,000 Units of Fit/Jazz and City Models

Greg Webb — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 10:52:16 GMT

On Friday (January 29, 2010), Honda Motor Company declared it would recall a total of 646,000 units of the Fit/Jazz and City models internationally, with about 140,000 models in the United States. The recall is said to fix a defective master switch, which can cause water to enter the power window switch and in some cases cause a fire. There were three instances of the problem leading to a fire, two in the United States and one in South Africa.

A spokeswoman says the recall includes all models sold in North America, South America, South Africa, Europe and Asia, except for Japan.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Greg Webb

Baby Strollers Recalled for Finger Amputation Hazard

Greg Webb — Sat, 30 Jan 2010 09:53:37 GMT

The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) and Health Canada have issued a recall today of almost 1,200 baby strollers. The strollers are made by CYBEX and pose a finger amputation and laceration hazard to the child when the stroller is being collapsed or unfolded via the stroller’s hinge mechanism. So far there has only been one report of a child getting his finger caught in the mechanism, resulting in a fracture.

The recall applies to the Ruby, Onyx and Topaz lines of CYBEX’s strollers.

Consumers should stop using the strollers immediately and call Regal Lager at 1-800-593-5522 between 8:30 AM and 5:30 PM Eastern Standard Time Monday through Friday. Consumers can also visit the firm’s website at www.regallager.com/recalls and email it at info@regallager.com to receive a free fix kit.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Greg Webb

Toyota Sticky Throttles - Another Recall

Greg Webb — Tue, 26 Jan 2010 15:18:46 GMT

Toyota recently announced that it plans a recall of nearly 2.3 million vehicles because of problems with accelerator-pedal assemblies that occur due to premature wear. The parts were supplied by CTS late last year. Toyota says it knew the assemblies had problems, but there weren’t enough to warrant a recall.

Included in the recall are an unspecified number of ’09 – ’10 Pontiac Vibes that were designed and built by Toyota for General Motors.

Right now Toyota does not have a proposed fix for the problem due to the speed with which everything has come together. As a result, General Motors has confirmed that the Vibe will be included in the recall, but has not made a formal announcement. GM stated that it typically likes to wait to announce a recall until a solution to the problem has been determined.

Toyota has said that there have been no reported deaths or injuries related to the issue, and that it could be weeks before a solution was found and approved by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Toyota says this problem is separate from the one that warranted a recall back in November, where gas pedals in a select number of Toyota and Lexus vehicles were getting caught under floor mats and sending the vehicles out of control. There are 1.7 million vehicles that crossover into both recalls.

Toyota says drivers who experience their throttles sticking should shift into neutral, pull off the road and call the nearest Toyota dealer. Dealers have been instructed to deal with calls on a case-by-case basis until the problem is fixed. Toyota has not commented on how much leeway dealers have in helping owners of vehicles with the problem, whether it be installing new pedal assemblies or issuing long term loaner cars.

The first sign of a problem with the throttle is when the driver goes to accelerate and the gas pedal feels rough instead of smooth. The second is when the throttle doesn’t return properly upon foot removal, and lastly, when the pedal doesn’t return at all and the throttle stays open. Toyota encourages drivers to report to dealers immediately upon experiencing the first sign.

Toyota is continuing to sell models involved in the recall because they are new and the throttles don’t seem to be sticking until the vehicle ages.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Greg Webb

New System Helps Cut Medication Errors

Greg Webb — Mon, 25 Jan 2010 10:40:06 GMT

Despite many years attempting to make medications safer, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) claims medication errors kill at least one person a day and injure about 1.3 million people each year in the United States. New efforts are now under way to inform the public about the problem and provide guidance to prevent an error from occurring. The American Society of Health-System Pharmacists and the Institute for Safe Medical Practices (ISMP), a non-profit organization certified by the federal government to collect error reports and other information regarding quality breaches, is launching a new National Alert Network for Serious Medication Errors. This system will notify 35,000 healthcare professionals, such as pharmacists, doctors and nurses, when a dangerous or life-threatening issue is reported to the ISMP. The two organizations also hope to extend this network to about twenty-six organizations that work to promote safe medication use. The hope is that the system will cause these healthcare professionals to be more aware in order to prevent future mistakes; the same mistake should never happen again.

The system comes at a critical period when hospitals are being pressured to cut costs and stretch staff for as long as they can possibly work because of the poor economy; this may be fueling the increase in medication mistakes. In November, ISMP conducted a survey in which almost half of the 820 respondents, predominately nurses and pharmacists, reported a large or moderate negative impact on medication safety within the hospital due to the economy. In fact, 20% reported mistakes involving the most dangerous medications, such as insulin, heparin, chemotherapy and narcotics. It is not only wrong dosages or a wrong concentration that can hurt a patient but a mistake in the way the drug is administered as well.

The new system already worked well in its test run stage after alerting doctors that the concentration of iron in Mead Johnson’s Fer-In-Sol oral infant iron drops had been reduced; after the reduction some doctors had been prescribing too low of a dose even though there were labels on the drug explaining the change. Experts also believe some causes of medication error are the doctor’s poor handwriting, drug names sounding too familiar, and drug labels looking similar (as in the case of heparin). While the new system does seem to be a step in the right direction, many believe policy makers and hospital executives, who are slow to adopt new technologies such as computerized medical records, need to make these changes in order to ensure there are fewer errors. For example, if the medical records and prescriptions are computerized, a doctor’s illegible handwriting would not be an issue.

Consumers are able to sign up for customized reports about certain medications and allowed to submit a report regarding any problems with their medications at the ISMP’s www.consumermedsafety.org. They are also able to submit any medication errors to the FDA at fda.gov/safety/medwatch. Patients and family members should also ask the medical staff what medications are being given and to confirm that the correct dosages are being administered properly.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Greg Webb

The Stop-Smoking Drug Chantix Blamed for Injuries

Paul Thomson — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 00:01:00 GMT

Chantix, a drug to help users quit smoking, has been found to be the cause for several suicides or attempts at the act. The drug is made by Pfizer, Inc. and was approved by the FDA in 2006. Several suits filed in the New York State Supreme Court claim that Pfizer failed to properly notify doctors and patients about the serious risk of depression or suicidal thoughts and other side effects. "'Defendant intentionally, recklessly, and/or negligently concealed, suppressed, omitted, and/or misrepresented the risks, dangers, defects and disadvantages of Chantix,' said attorney Marc Grossman who is representing the plaintiffs in the three lawsuits," according to attorneyatlaw.com.

Last year, 37 federal lawsuits filed against the company were consolidated into a　Multidistrict Litigation group, but the state claims filed in New York will not be included in this grouping.

Even without proper warning, the sales of　Chantix have fallen in the past several years after many users alarmingly experienced "vivid dreams and hallucinations". One well-known case is that of Dallas musician, Carter Albrecht. The member of Edie　Brickell & the New Bohemians was shot and killed in 2007 due to unusually　aggressive behavior. Albrecht's family blamed his strange behavior on his use of　Chantix and filed a lawsuit. Many individuals or families have found themselves in a similar situation due to Chantix.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Paul Thomson