Product Liability Law Blog

Auto manufacturing giant Toyota is sending out letters to the owners of 3.8 million vehicles telling them to remove the floor mat on the driver’s side until they fix the problem that killed four people on August 28. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says the tragic car crash could have been avoided.

Mark Saylor, his wife, daughter, and brother-in-law died. Saylor was unable to stop when the floor mat jammed the gas pedal. The car careened down and off a freeway until it crashed and burned. Prior to the deadly crash, someone in the car had called 911 saying that the brakes didn’t seem to be working.

According to the government investigators, the Lexus ES 350 involved in the crash had a start-stop push button. The vehicle does not come with a device that immediately shuts down the car. The engine however, can be turned off in three seconds by activating using a software push button. The Lexus owner's manual does not indicate this to users. No instructions were printed on the dashboard.

The NHTSA report also points out other potential auto defects that may have contributed to the fatal car crash:

• The floor mats in the Lexus ES 350 that the Saylor family was riding were not made for use with this vehicle. They were manufactured for the Lexus RX 400h SUV.

• The gas pedal was lacking a center pivot that could have made it easier to get it out from under the floor mat.

Meantime, a number of auto products liability lawyers are pointing to the engine throttle control system as another possible cause for the deadly accident. They say a defect may be what caused the Lexus that Saylor was driving to accelerate to such a high speed. The NHTSA report says the vehicle was traveling at about 100 mph. At that speed, the motor vehicle was traveling the span of one and a half times the length of a football field every three seconds.

More than floor mats: NHTSA report gives more details on Lexus crash, Consumer Reports, October 29, 2009

Toyota recall update: Lose-the-floor-mat letters go out Friday, no permanent solution in sight, USA Today, October 29, 2009

Recall won’t end acceleration accidents, lawyers claim, Wisconsin Law Journal, October 9, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Read the NTSB Report (PDF)

Toyota USA Newsroom

Toyota Recall, List of Vehicles Affected, PR News, September 29, 2009

Continue reading " Deadly Auto Defects: NHTSA Identifies Possible Design Flaws that May Have Contributed to Toyota Car Crash Involving Floor Mat " »

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Posted In: Auto Recalls , Floor Mats

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With Halloween just a few days away, the Food and Drug Administration is warning parents to be on the lookout for face paint that may contain lead, mercury, and other dangerous toxins. It turns out that using face paint, once thought a safer alternative to wearing a mask (which sometimes makes it hard for a child to see out of and can increase the chances of injury during a fall accident or a pedestrian accident), isn’t necessarily a good idea.

The Campaign for Safe Cosmetics says it tested 10 of the more popular face paints out there and found that all of them contained lead. Six of them had skin allergens, including cobalt, nickel, and chromium, at levels higher than what the industry recommends. Also, the group discovered some labeling discrepancies. Some of the products say they are hypoallergenic when in fact they are not. One product’s label noted that the face paint was hypoallergenic and nontoxic when it actually contains high levels of lead, nickel, and cobalt.

The levels of lead that the study detected in the face paints varied from .05 to .065 parts per million. Although this is lower than the federal government’s limit for toys at 300 ppm, the medical community believes that any exposure to lead can be dangerous for kids.

For children, lead poisoning can lead to aggressive behavior, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, impaired neurological development, learning disabilities, hearing problems, muscle and joint pain, slowed growth, and brain damage.

It can't be good for a child to wear lead paint on the face. He or she might even end up licking and swallowing the paint. Our child injury lawyers represent the families of children who suffer from serious health issues or have serious injuries caused by a defective or a dangerous product.

If you decide to paint your child’s face this Halloween, the FDA is recommending a number of safety precautions, including:

• Make sure that the paint you select is intended for use on human skin.
• If the paint smells bad, throw it out.
• Conduct a patch test first. Test it on a small area of the body to make sure an allergic reaction doesn’t develop.
• Check ingredients on the product.
• Don’t use face paint that is fluorescent or luminescent near the eye area.
• Wash off completely after use.

Happy Halloween!

Trick-or-treaters beware: Lead and other toxins in face paint could be scariest part of Halloween, NY Daily News, October 28, 2009

Warning: Halloween Face Paint Can Be Scary, The Daily Green, October 19, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Campaign for Safe Cosmetics

Food and Drug Administration

Childhood Lead Poisoning, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention

Continue reading " Dangerous Kids' Products: Lead in Paint Can Put a Scary Face on Halloween " »

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Posted In: Injuries to Children & Minors , Lead Poisoning

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Our child seat defect lawyers have handled many cases involving injuries to children and babies who were seated in defective car seats that malfunctioned during motor vehicle crashes. Now, a new study is reporting that infant car seats are involved in thousands of injuries that occur when the safety device is used outside a motor vehicle.

It is indisputable that child car safety seats are necessary and have saved thousands of lives during motor vehicle crashes—that is, as long as the safety device isn’t defective or didn’t malfunction. However, many car seats are also used as handheld baby carriers or can be strapped into a stroller. While this way of traveling and carrying a child may seem convenient and efficient, it isn’t always safe.

According to Shital Parikh, the study’s author and a pediatric orthopedist at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center, over 43,000 infants in this country who ended up in emergency rooms between 2003 and 2007 got hurt when they fell from child car safety seats that were placed on counters, tables, and other elevated locations. Fall accidents also occurred when the car seats rolled over after they were placed on sofas, beds, and other soft surfaces (increasing the risk of suffocation) or when babies, left unrestrained in the seats, made movements that caused the safety device to fall or tilt over.

Head injuries, fractures, and dislocations were the most common injuries resulting from falls from child safety seats. Three babies died from their injuries.

Per the study, which was based on information from the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, 62% of infants injured were younger than 4 months. 8% were hospitalized. Approximately 50% of accidents took place at home.

Parikh is recommending that a child only be placed in an infant car seat when he or she is seated in the vehicle. Otherwise, the baby should be removed from the safety device. Some physical therapists have also raised concerns that babies may be suffering from “container syndrome” caused by too much time on their backs.

Parikh is calling on car seat makers to include warnings about the dangers that can arise when the products are used incorrectly. He also wants them to let parents and guardians know exactly how the child car safety seats should be used. He thinks that car seat manufacturers should design more child car seats.

While there are steps that you can take to make sure that you’ve purchased the right seat for your child and the vehicle and that the safety device is properly assembled and your son or daughter is properly secured, unfortunately there are many child car safety seats that are designed defectively and can cause more harm than good during a catastrophic car crash.

Contact our auto products liability lawyers today about your injuries to children case.

Car seats can be dangerous outside the car, USA Today, October 19, 2009

Babies Injured in Car Seats Used Outside of Cars, AJC, October 20, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Child Passenger Safety, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

American Academy of Pediatrics

Crash Survivor Network

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Posted In: Child Car Safety Seats , Injuries to Children & Minors , Kids in Cars

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Over the last 10 years, Ford Motor Co. has issued several recalls over a cruise-control deactivation switch that is considered a potential fire hazard. There is concern that if hydraulic fluid leaks from the switch, the car might overheat even when the ignition is off, which may start a fire. Already, several auto products liability lawsuits have been filed over the defect. Ford, however, is quick to point out that most of the complaints have been demands for compensation over property damage that the fires allegedly caused.

There have, however, been injuries and deaths. One family sued Ford for wrongful death after 74-year-old Darletta Mohlis died when her home burned down after a 1996 Ford truck caught fire in the garage. Another woman sustained second-degree burns and lost her cat and house when their Ford Expedition also caught fire in the garage.

Last week, Ford recalled another 4.5 million vehicles over the same issue, increasing the number of autos affected to more than 14 million. This was also the largest single recall in the automaker’s history.

Vehicles included in this latest recall:

• F53 Motorhomes (1994 model)
• Ford Econoline vans (1992 – 2003 models)
• Ford Rangers (1995-1997, 2001- 2003 models)
• Ford Excursion diesel vehicles (2000-2003 models)
• Ford Windstars (1995 – 2003 models)
• Ford Explorers and Mountaineers (1995 – 2002 models)
• F-Super Duty diesels (1993-1997, 1999-2003 models)

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration wants Ford users to check for indicators that a vehicle may be a possible fire hazard: malfunctioning brake lights, a cruise-control system that is not working properly, problems moving the vehicle out of park gear, or brake warning lights that are lit up on the vehicle’s dashboard.

The risk of a fire hazard may be especially high for the Ford Windstars. Ford says the 3.4 million other autos that are part of the recall were included because they also were made with the Texas Instruments switch. Texas Instruments, however, says that the switch is just one component in Ford's system.

Ford Is Recalling More Vehicles Over Fire Problem, New York Times, October 13, 2009

Ford Recalls 4.5 Million Vehicles Because of Fire Hazard, Wall Street Journal, October 13, 2009

Ford Document: Millions of vehicles have fire risk part, CNN, June 27, 2005

Iowa family suing ford over fire, CNN, June 17, 2005

Related Web Resources:
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Ford Recalls

Continue reading " Ford Recall of 4.5 Million Autos Over Faulty Cruise Control Deactivation Switch Increases Number of Vehicles Affected to Over 14 Million " »

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Posted In: Auto Recalls , Automotive Product Liability

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With school back in session and kids running around the playground during recess and lunch period, accidents can happen. Children who are roughhousing with one another or taking part in a pickup game of basketball or another sport might end up with scratches and bruises. There are also the kinds of injuries that can result during playground accidents. A fall from the top of the jungle gym or a sweater drawstring getting stuck on a merry-go-round can lead to catastrophic consequences.

Although these incidents sound harmless enough, they can lead to serious injuries, including traumatic brain injuries, spinal cord injuries, strangulation injuries, broken bones, and other serious injuries that can change a child’s life forever. Granted, accidents do happen. However, some playground accidents might have been prevented if only the playground designer, the manufacturer of a playground ride, or the school where the playground is located took the necessary precautions to prevent such injuries to children from happening. This is where our playground accident lawyers step in.

Our playground injury attorneys represent the families of children who were seriously injured in playground accidents because of a playground-related defect. While playgrounds are designed for kids to have fun in, it is no laughing matter that, according to Safe Kids USA, about 150,000 kids younger than age 15 end up in the emergency room each year because of playground injuries involving playground equipment.

About 10 playground deaths happen a year. 75% of playground accidents take place in public facilities, such as schools and parks, as opposed to playground equipment in private backyards.

Our experienced injuries to children and minors lawyers can determine whether your child’s fall accident, burn accident, trip accident, or entrapment accident occurred because a playground product was defective or the playground was improperly designed, the playground was made with improper protective surfaces, such as wood or concrete, the playground is inadequately maintained, or the school playground equipment used is age inappropriate for the children who are playing there.

Young children may be old enough to go to school but many of them are still too young to play unsupervised. Inadequate supervision can create a hazard that may result in serious injuries if, for example, a young child who is too young to do so alone climbs the extremely high ladder of a slide and falls backward.

No. 1 Cause of Injury in Elementary School: Playground Accidents, Safe Kids

Related Web Resources:
Preventing Injuries to Children on Playgrounds, Safe Kids (PDF)

EPA rethinks play padding, Chicago Tribune, June 5, 2009

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Posted In: Burn , Injuries to Children & Minors , Playground Products

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Last week, Toyota announced what to date is its largest auto recall ever. 3.8 million Lexus and Toyota cars are to be called back over concerns that the all-weather floor mat might cause the accelerator pedal to jam. The recall comes one month after a California highway patrol officer and his family died in a tragic car crash after he was unable to stop his 2009 Lexus ES 350.

Witnesses say the vehicle that CHP Officer Mark Saylor was driving was moving at a very high speed and flames were emanating from the tires before it crashed. Someone who made a 911 call from the vehicle said that the brakes weren’t working. Police investigating the tragic car wreck believe that the gas pedal got stuck in the rubber mat.

On Friday, Akio Toyoda, the president of Toyota, called the accident “extremely” regrettable. He offered his condolences and remorse.

The deadly car crash involving the Saylor family is not the first time that similar problems with the floor mat have been reported. More than 100 complaints have been filed over the dangerous floor mats, including reports of several deaths and numerous injuries.

Just this summer, Troy Edwin Johnson’s family settled a wrongful death claim against Toyota for auto products liability. Johnson died in July 2007 when a Toyota Camry speeding at about 120 miles per hour struck his vehicle. His body was severely burned in the fiery car crash. An investigation by police revealed that the Camry’s driver tried to stop her vehicle but that the vehicle’s floor mat may have caused the gas pedal to jam.

Auto Products Liability
Car manufacturers are supposed to make sure their autos are free from defects. When auto defects are discovered, the automaker must remedy the problem so that injuries and deaths are prevented. With respect to the deadly floor mats, The New York Times says that Toyota and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has known about their defective design since at least March 2007 after five complaints were made. This prompted a recall. Research conducted at a NHTSA test center determined that because of the accelerator pedal’s design, it could easily become entrapped in the rubber groove of a floor mat that wasn’t properly secured.

If you or someone you love was injured in a car crash that was caused by an auto defect, do not hesitate to contact an experienced auto products liability law firm about your wrongful death or personal injury case.

President of Toyota Apologizes, NY Times, October 3, 2009

Floor mat may have trapped accelerator in CHP officer's crash, death, SignonSanDiego, September 9, 2009

Toyota Floor Mat Recall Could Have Been Issued Earlier, About Lawsuits, October 4, 2009

Toyota: 3.8 million cars with risky floor mats, CNN Money, October 2, 2009

Related Web Resources:
Toyota News Releases, Toyota

Safer Car, NHTSA

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Posted In: Auto Recalls , Automotive Product Liability , Floor Mats

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