FTC Faces Lawsuit Over Used Car Recall Dangers

If you’re looking to buy a used car, how do you know if a vehicle is safe? Thanks to the Takata airbag recall, it’s become more complicated than ever before.

Consumer groups sued the Federal Trade Commission earlier this week for dangerously misleading used car buyers. Last year, the FTC reached a decision with General Motors and two major used-car chains allowing dealerships to advertise used cars as “certified pre-owned” even if they had an outstanding recall making them unsafe to drive. The lawsuit aims to overturn this decision.

Consumer safety groups filing the lawsuit include the Center for Auto Safety, Consumers for Auto Reliability and Safety, and the U.S. Public Interest Research Group and three of its state counterparts. They argue that the ruling leaves used car buyers vulnerable to potentially deadly defects.

The matter is further complicated by the immense volume of auto recalls in recent years. […]

The IIHS Announces 2017 Top Safety Picks

Thinking of buying a new car? The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety announced last week their 2017 Top Safety Picks.

Out of 200 models evaluated by the IIHS, 82 vehicles made the cut.

There are two awards categories: Top Safety Pick, and Top Safety Pick Plus. To qualify for either of these lists, vehicles must earn good ratings in a series of crashworthiness tests and advanced or superior ratings for crash prevention. In all, 44 earned Top Safety Pick status, and 38 Top Safety Pick Plus.

2017 Top Safety Pick Criteria

For the 3rd year in a row, automatic braking factored significantly into vehicle safety ratings. Automakers have voluntarily pledged to make automatic braking standard in all new vehicles by 2022. The feature has already become more common in new models. And that’s a good thing — automatic braking systems have been found to reduce rear-end crashes by 50%. […]

Canada Issues IVC Filter Warning After Numerous Reports of Complications

IVC filter warning tells of defective blood clot prevention product

At the end of last month, Health Canada issued an updated IVC filter warning for physicians and patients.

After receiving 121 reports of severe problems associated with IVC filters as of June 6, the Canadian government’s public health department released updated information regarding the safety of these devices.

IVC Filter Warning: Blood Clot Filters Can Cause Harm

IVC (inferior vena cava) filters are tiny, spider-like wire filters used to prevent pulmonary embolism by catching blood clots that travel from the legs toward the lungs. Unfortunately, the FDA has received over 900 reports of complications. IVC filters can break apart, sending small metal fragments throughout the body. This can result in serious injury or death.

The longer the IVC filter remains in place, the greater the risk of complication.  […]

Jeep that Killed Actor Anton Yelchin was Under Recall

What may appear to be a freak accident may actually be the result of a widespread safety problem that has caused hundreds of crashes across the United States in recent months.

The vehicle that killed actor Anton Yelchin, 27, was part of a safety recall issued two months ago. Yelchin was crushed to death when his 2015 Jeep Grand Cherokee rolled backward down his driveway and pinned him against a fence.

Yelchin’s Jeep was included in a recall that was issued after hundreds of similar – but nonfatal – accidents were reported. Due to a gear shift problem, drivers can mistakenly believe their car is in park, when it is actually in drive or neutral. The confusion stems from a monostable gear shift lever, which rests in a default position, unlike the traditional gear shift, which moves to a different position for each gear. […]

Johnson & Johnson to pay $72 million in cancer lawsuit

Baby powder found to contain cancer-causing ingredient, talcum powder

A Missouri jury has awarded $72 million to the family of Jacqueline Fox, a woman who died of ovarian cancer she says was caused by decades of using Johnson’s baby powder, which contains talc.

A pathologist found that Fox’s ovaries showed talc inflammation which later turned to cancer. Jacqueline Fox was one of more than 1000 people who filed suit against Johnson & Johnson for failing to warn customers about the dangers associated with talcum powder, but her case was the first to result in monetary compensation.

It is especially alarming that such a ubiquitous household product can be found to contain cancer-causing ingredients. But, this isn’t the first time Johnson & Johnson has come under scrutiny for the safety of their products.   […]

Is there a recall on your car? Check to be sure.

Is your car or truck safe to drive? Are you sure?

Many people who are hurt or killed by an automotive defect weren’t aware that their vehicle was under recall. Checking to see if your vehicle has been recalled is easy, it often costs nothing to have the defect fixed, and doing so can save your life and the lives of your loved ones.

The Takata airbag recall, the most extensive in U.S. automotive history, is of particular concern due to a large number of vehicles affected and the severity of the injuries caused by the defect. The Takata airbags in question have inflators made with ammonium nitrate, a propellant that can become unstable and cause the inflator to rupture, sending metal shards into the cabin. Ten people (nine in the U.S.) have been killed and more than 100 have been injured this way. […]

Volkswagen Recall Reveals Scam, Hurts Germany’s Reputation

Last week, we heard yet another story of a major automaker intentionally deceiving the public and the government.

Volkswagen has been ordered by the Environmental Protection Agency to recall nearly half a million diesel powered vehicles in the U.S. due to  a software designed to cheat emissions tests. The software in the vehicles detects when an emissions test is being performed, and will reduce smog emissions during the test, making the car appear to be more environmentally friendly than it actually is. During normal driving time, the vehicles can emit up to 40 times the amount of nitrous oxide allowed by the Clean Air Act.

For a year, VW claimed that this discrepancy was the result of technical errors, but last week they admitted that the software was designed to intentionally cheat the tests.

Affected models include: diesel versions of the Jetta, […]

Takata Recall hits 33.8 Million: Is your car safe to drive?

Takata Corp. expanded its recall to 33.8 million vehicles on Tuesday, May 19, finally acknowledging that its airbags are defective after months of resisting the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. This is the largest auto recall in U.S. history.

The defective airbags leave millions of American drivers in danger, especially because drivers  don’t yet know which makes and models are affected. The list of recalled vehicles has been growing since last year, and the number of vehicles affected doubled as of the announcement on May 19th. The NHTSA and automakers are still working to sort out the “definitive list” of unsafe makes and models. Meanwhile, drivers are in the dark,  and may be in danger and not yet know it. All they can do is check safercar.gov frequently for updates.

The defective airbags manufactured by Takata have been linked to six deaths and over 100 injuries caused by metal shrapnel that is released into the cabin when the airbags deploy.   […]

Honda hit with record-setting $70 million fee; drivers remain unfazed

Honda Motor Co. has been hit with a record-setting $70 million fine after failing to report more than 1,700 injuries, deaths, and warranty claims linked to their vehicles. While this is the largest penalty ever imposed on an automaker by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, car-buyers seem unfazed.

Honda has agreed to pay two fines, each for $35 million, for underreporting the number of injuries and deaths in their vehicles, as well as for the number of warranty claims, from 2003-2014. The number of injuries and deaths related to Honda’s vehicles is more than double what the company had initially reported.

The fines imposed on Honda were the highest allowed by law. This reflects the government’s “tough stance” on auto safety issues, continuing the trend we have seen over the last year.  Secretary of Transportation Anthony Foxx says last that the NHTSA issued more fines last year than in the rest of its entire history put together. […]

Attention, coffee lovers: Keurig recall

Popular coffee machine reportedly causes burns, Keurig recalls 7 million units

Keurig Green Mountain, Inc.,  a popular manufacturer of single-cup coffee brewing systems,  issued a recall this morning on approximately 7 million of its coffee brewing machines in the United States following about 90 reports of burn injuries and 200 reports of product defects. According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the defect allows hot liquid to escape during the brewing process, and in some cases this has caused burns.

Specifically, it is the Keurig MINI Plus Brewing System that is affected. The company is offering a free repair kit to customers whose Keurig brewers have been recalled.

In the meantime, Keurig states that it is safe for consumers to continue to use the coffee maker. According to their representatives, the machines are more likely to overheat and spit hot liquid when brewing multiple cups in quick succession. […]

Former Takata employees report secret testing to airbags in 2004

If there is one part of your vehicle that can save your life in the event of an accident, it may be your airbag. However, that might not be the case if your airbag was made by Takata. The New York Times reported that after learning that one of its airbags ruptured, spraying metal fragments at a driver in Alabama, Takata conducted secret tests on 50 airbags that were retrieved from scrap yards. The New York Times cited two former employees who were involved in the secret testing as the source of the report.

During the testing, which was done in 2004, the steel inflators in two of the airbags cracked, which can lead to a rupture. Although the engineers began designing possible fixes, they never alerted federal regulators to the danger. According to the New York Times, Takata executives went so far as to order lab technicians to delete testing data from their computers and destroy the parts they were testing. […]

NHTSA under review for Takata airbag recall. Agency putting more pressure on Takata to turn over records

More than 14 million cars have been recalled around the globe for faulty airbags from the Japanese supplier Takata Corp. The recall includes 11 million vehicles in the United States alone. The NHTSA is under fire from lawmakers for issuing a geographic recall of vehicles.

Critics of the geographic recall, including several U.S. senators, call it irresponsible. The NHTSA limits the recall to specific geographic regions of high humidity, but does not take into consideration the mobility of American drivers.

In June, the NHTSA inquired as to whether Takata air bag inflators made from 2000 to 2007 were properly sealed or subject to other defects. The agency asked certain automakers to recall millions of airbags in certain regions, including Florida and Puerto Rico, where the parts were exposed to higher humidity that could cause deterioration of the explosive material inside. […]

Nearly 8 million cars recalled for faulty Takata airbags

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has issued an urgent advisory to the owners of 7.8 million cars throughout the U.S., which involve ten different manufacturers, for a problem involving faulty airbags.

The Department of Transportation will conduct a review of the NHTSA, which has been criticized for its handling of the Takata airbag recall. The agencies website, which helps owners determine whether their car has been recalled, was down for two days after they released an urgent recall notice. An investigation by the New York Times, found that the NHTSA did not react to problems until they reached a crisis level, including the Takata airbag problems.

The NHTSA has urged the owners of certain Toyota, Honda, Mazda, BMW, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Subaru, Chrysler, Ford and General Motors vehicles to act immediately on recall notices to replace defective Takata airbags. The message from the NHTSA came with a particular urgency for owners of vehicles affected by regional recalls in the following areas: Florida, […]

Jury awards $175 million in Trinity Guardrail Case

Trinity Industries, the maker of highway guardrails, was found by a jury on Monday to have defrauded the federal government. The jury in Texas, found Trinity liable in the civil lawsuit for violating the False Claims Act, according to CNBC. The jury said that those violations caused the U.S. Government to incur $175 million in damages, as the federal government helps state transportation departments purchase approved products, including Trinity guardrail products, for use on highways across the country. Under the federal False Claims Act, the verdict amount would be tripled to $525 million.

The case was filed by Joshua Harman, a competitor who discovered that in 2005, the company had made changes to a piece of steel in the front of the guardrail without alerting the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA), as is required. Harman’s lawsuit claimed the modifications made by Trinity could be deadly. […]

GM issued 75th recall of the year this week while ignition switch death toll rose to 24

Not even the police are safe in General Motors cars. GM announced its 75th recall of 2014 earlier this week, recalling 7,600 Chevrolet Caprice police vehicles, because of a transmission issue. The Detroit News reported that the vehicles could roll away when the drivers believed they were in park. This recall marked GM’s seventh recall in nine days.

GMs recalls now total approximately 30 million vehicles. The most recent recall includes the Chevrolet Caprice police vehicles from the 2011-2013 model years. GM said that the cars, which were imported from Australia, could be shifted out of park without a foot on the brake pedal. The problem may also enable the driver to remove the ignition key without the transmission being in park. This could cause a potential roll away hazard and increasing the risk of injury to occupants exiting the vehicle or people walking nearby. […]

As families begin to settle with GM over crashes, is it too little too late?

Last week, more than a dozen families were given a choice to accept a settlement or fight GM in a potentially lengthy court battle over deaths in crashes tied to faulty ignition switches. The families of two Wisconsin girls killed in the 2006 crash of Chevrolet Cobalt accepted offers from GM, dropping a lawsuit in favor the settlement.

The crash that killed 18-year-old Natasha Weigel and 15-year-old Amy Rademaker was one of the first blamed on the faulty switches. According to ABC News, a Wisconsin state trooper investigating the crash made the connection between the position of the ignition switch and the air bags not deploying. An investigation into GMs delay in handling the recall found that both GM and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) were aware of the trooper’s report, but largely ignored it.

Despite evidence from this crash and others that faulty ignition switches were causing engines to stall and air bags to be disabled, […]

NHTSA coming under fire for not acting fast enough on recalls

An investigation by The New York Times into the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), has found that the safety organization has been slow to identify and act on vehicle safety issues. According to The New York Times, the failures go well beyond its slow reaction to the GM ignition switch defect.

The Associated Press reported that this week Congressional Republicans charged that the NHTSA was years late in detecting the deadly problem with General Motors’ cars and lacks the expertise to oversee increasingly complex vehicles.

The congressional report stated that safety regulators should have discovered GM’s faulty ignition switches seven years before the company recalled 2.6 million cars to fix the deadly problem. It also raised serious questions about the NHTSA’s ability to keep the public safe.

The New York Times reported that by the time GM started the recall, […]

At least 19 deaths now linked to GM ignition switch

General Motors will pay compensation for 19 deaths linked to a faulty ignition switch, according to multiple news sources. This is more than the 13 deaths they originally estimated to have been linked to the GM ignition switch, and some lawmakers have estimate the death toll is close to 100.

According to the Automotive News, independent compensation expert, Kenneth Feinberg said the GM fund has now received 445 claims, including 125 for deaths, 58 for serious injuries and 262 for brief hospitalization or outpatient care. They have since approved 31 claims, including 19 for deaths. According to CNN, most of the remaining claims are still being reviewed. Camille Biros, the deputy administrator of the program, told Automotive News that no claims have been rejected thus far.

GM has admitted knowing about the ignition switch problem for more than a decade, […]

How to find out if your used car has been recalled

It will now be easier for used cars buyers to find out if the car they are purchasing has been involved in a recall. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has launched a new web tool where you can enter a vehicle’s VIN number to view recalls. You can find it at www.safercar.gov/vinlookup. The site will also show you if the recall work has been completed or not on that particular vehicle. The accuracy of the tool is reliant on receiving regularly updated information from the automakers.

Every year, millions of vehicles are recalled due to safety defects. USA Today reported that 1 in 4 recalled cars never get the recommended recall work done, which could mean potential safety hazards for future car owners. CarFax, an online service that tracks vehicles histories, estimates there are more than 36 million vehicles on U.S. […]

GM issues more recalls for safety issues

General Motors issued six more recalls on Friday totaling more than 312,000 vehicles. The recalls put GM’s total for the year to 66 recalls of just over 29 million cars and trucks.

Friday’s recalls included more than 215,000 Saturn Vue SUVs, 2002 through 2004 model years for an ignition key cylinder problem, saying the keys can be removed when the ignitions are not in the off position and the engine is still running. The problem has been linked to crashes. GM has discontinued this vehicle and the Saturn brand.

Other GM U.S. recalls that were announced Friday include:

• 2013 Cadillac ATS four-door sedans and 2013 Buick Encores in the U.S. for an issue with front seat belt pretensioner cables.
• 2014-2015 Chevrolet Impala sedans for a problem with the front console storage compartment latch opening in a rear crash. […]