Posts Tagged ‘Vehicle Safety’

Safety Standards Continue to Fail our Families

Thursday, January 13th, 2011

Last month, the National Transportation Safety Board held a meeting discussing child safety in motor vehicles and airplanes.  Unfortunately, the laws designed to protect our children seem to fall short once again.  For example, Oregon law allows parents to discontinue use of car seats before their child’s body is capable of protection from the standard seat belt in most cars.  In fact, according to the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration, placement of the lap belt over the abdomen is a major cause of internal organ and spinal injury in children, while the lap belt over the neck is a major cause of disabling or fatal neck injury in children weighing under 80 pounds or less than 4′ 9″ in height.  To read more about the concerns stemming from last month’s meeting, read here.

Report Traces the Role of American Civil Justice System in Improving Auto Safety

Thursday, April 22nd, 2010

The American Association for Justice (AAJ) has released a report that traces the history of auto safety improvements in the United States spurred by the civil justice system.  The springboard for the April, 2010 report is the recent accelerator defects in many Toyota models.  However, the report focuses on the accomplishments of our jury system in bringing about positive change in everything in our cars from gas tanks to tires and air bag safety.

Through historical examples, the report gives us a sense for how far the auto industry has come and where we would be without seriously injured people having access to justice.  For example, the report’s introduction takes us back to 1964, when Chevrolet built a sold steering shaft 3 inches from the front tires of its Corvair model, which caused the shaft to ram violently into a driver’s head when he was struck head-on by another vehicle.   General Motors was wise to redesign its steering mechanism after evidence of such a preventable injury became public in a court of law.  Ultimately, the AAJ report concludes with a diagram theorizing what today’s auto would look like if the American civil justice system didn’t exist.

View full report here:  http://www.justice.org/resources/Driven_to_Safety.pdf

Which Toyota Vehicles Have Been Recalled?

Monday, March 8th, 2010

Today, many of us listened to the national news stations replay the 911 call from a Prius driver in San Diego, California who couldn’t slow down his speeding car because the accelerator apparently stuck during a normal driving maneuver.  So, the public seems to be generally aware that Toyota’s are experiencing some significant safety problems.  But for current and potential Toyota owners, the information about what specific vehicles in the Toyota fleet give rise to safety concerns is confusing.  As of today, Toyota has voluntarily recalled the following vehicles:

Expect the recall list to grow.