Articles Posted in Product Liability

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has been issuing its much anticipated ratings for auto accident and injury protection for years now.A new analysis by the Insurance Institute shows that drivers of vehicles driving a car with a high rating by the Institute had an enhanced chance of surviving a side impact auto accident, compared to drivers of vehicles that did not have a good rating.

The researchers in the analysis tested cars that had side airbags. The tests were conducted at 31 mph. The researchers found that a person’s chances of dying in a side impact accident decreased by approximately 70% when his car was rated Good, compared to a car which was rated Poor. A person driving a car that was rated Acceptable was 64% less likely to die in a side impact crash, and a person driving a vehicle rated Marginal was 49% less likely to die in a side impact accident.

Side impact accidents are typically high-injury accidents, because there’s little space between the occupant and the other car to cushion the impact. Approximately 23 percent of all auto accident deaths in the US every year are caused in side impact accidents.The serious injuries that Atlanta car accident lawyers see in accidents like this are neck injuries, fractures, chest injuries, abdominal injuries, internal injuries and pelvic injuries.

Did Toyota Try to Mislead Public with WSJ Story?

The Wall Street Journal ran a story last week, citing sources “familiar with the findings” that indicated that NHTSA investigations into Toyota’sacceleration problems had found driver error had been to blame for most of the cases.According to the Wall Street Journal piece, federal data suggests that many drivers, who blamed defects in their Toyota for these accidents, possibly jammed the accelerator instead of slamming the brakes.

As expected, the Wall Street Journal article created a furor.The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has been quick to distance itself from the article.An agency representative said that the information used by the WSJ came from Toyota itself, and not from the agency.In other words, the company had planted the story in order to develop a strong case for itself against the hundreds of acceleration-related personal injury and wrongful death lawsuits it’s up against.

It doesn’t look like McDonald’s wants to be at the receiving end of injury claims resulting from parental ire over its massive recall of drinking glasses last week. It is no accident that the company is offering a three dollar refund to parents who come in to return the glasses. The glasses were initially sold for two dollars each. McDonald’s clearly recognizes the risk of injury the glasses pose to children.

Last week, McDonald’s announced a massive recall of approximately 13.5 million drinking glasses that were painted with characters from the Shrek movies. It was meant to be part of a promotional effort with McDonald’s teaming up with the makers of the last of the Shrek movies, Shrek Forever After.Soon, testing showed that the paint, used in the designs of the glasses, contained cadmium, an injury causing substance. The designs featured four Shrek characters including Shrek, Fiona, Donkey and Puss in Boots. As soon as McDonald’s found the high cadmium levels in the paint, it informed the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and announced the recall in an effort to stop any child from being injured.Parents who have bought these glasses can return these to the nearest McDonald’s restaurant for a refund.

It’s also the right time for Atlanta injury lawyers to focus attention on the risks of cadmium. It seems like concerns over lead-tainted products are slowly declining, and cadmium-related hazards are coming up in their place. Cadmium is a known carcinogen, and is found in shellfish, cigarette smoke and industrial settings.

A Georgia jury this week awarded a couple, damages of $317,000 in the first product liability lawsuit related to injuries from Yamaha Rhino All-Terrain Vehicles.

Roger McTaggart was injured in 2007 when his ATV flipped over, trapping his leg. He suffered crushing injuries in the accident. McTaggart filed a lawsuit against Yamaha, alleging defects in the Rhino ATV. According to his attorneys, the accident occurred on a flat piece of land on which it should have been safe to ride an ATV. McTaggart claimed in his lawsuit, that the Yamaha Rhino should’ve come with doors that would have contained the rider’s legs, thereby preventing crushing injuries in case of a rollover..

Not surprisingly, Yamaha insisted that the injuries were caused not because of any inherent stability defect in the Rhino, but simply because the driver operated the vehicle in a reckless manner. It’s highly likely that Yamaha will pursue this line of defense in most of the Rhino product liability lawsuits that are pending against it. Yamaha plans to appeal the verdict.

New CPSC Database Will Let Consumers Know of Product Injuries Before a Recall

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is investing more than $20 million in establishing a searchable database that will make information about product injuries available to consumers before any recall is announced. It’s a development that was long overdue, and promises to offer American consumers the kind of information and knowledge they need to make safe choices for their families.

The final details of the database have not been established yet. It is likely to be available on saferproducts.gov, and is expected to be online by this time next year. Once up, the database will contain information about literally thousands of consumer products, from gifts, cribs, and strollers to power tools and electronic appliances.

The investigation into the causes of acceleration in Toyota vehicles has taken a unexpected turn, with the Obama administration this week announcing that it was bringing in NASA scientists to help with the investigation.

There has speculation for quite a few weeks now that the causes for the acceleration go beyond floor mats or gas pedals. Space radiation experts have put forward the theory that modern vehicles with the massive amount of electronic circuitry they have on board, could be at risk from interference from space radiation. The effects of such radiation on consumer goods like cell phones and computers, have been known for a while now. These space radiation experts believe that Toyota cars, which come with massive amounts of electronics, could be at special risk for interference from cosmic rays. The announcement that the Toyota probe will now include NASA scientists has lent credence to those theories.

The Obama administration has also asked the National Academy of Sciences undertake a separate study into computer technologies in vehicles. This study will last for 15 months. The study is expected to look into the potential of computer malfunctioning and electromagnetic interference as factors in acceleration in these vehicles.

Baby slings, those soft and snuggly baby carriers that are all the rage, have now come under the microscope at the Consumer Product Safety Commission. The agency is expected to make an announcement later this week, warning about the special risks of suffocation to babies, especially newborns, who are placed in these slings.

CPSC chairperson Inez Tenenbaum is expected to make the announcement, warning parents about the high risk of suffocation in certain kinds of sling designs. The risk, according to child safety experts, comes from the fact that many of the designs allow babies to settle into a comfortable fetal position, that can have their chin touching their chest. In a position like this, there is a high risk of a respiratory blockage, and consequent suffocation. Some brands like the “Sling Rider” from Infantino have been named as posing a special risk because of the design. Besides, babies may be at risk in these slings when they turn towards the person carrying them, and become smothered in their clothes.

The risks from baby slings are not entirely new to injury lawyers in Atlanta. There have been at least seven confirmed reports of deaths of infants who have suffocated in these slings.In 2008, there were dozens of instances of babies falling out of the fabric slings, and injuring themselves.

For years, conservative estimates of losses from food borne illnesses in the US have placed the figure as low as $6.9 billion, and as high as $35 billion every year. As a new report into food safety in the country shows, those figures are barely the tip of the iceberg. The report by the Produce Safety Project says that the actual cost of food borne illnesses annually amounts to a staggering $157 billion every year.

Injury lawyers in Atlanta have a close connection with the food safety issue. After all, it was the appalling hygiene and safety conditions at a peanut processing plant in our own Georgia that caused nuts to be contaminated with the Salmonella bacteria, and led to a nationwide epidemic that killed several people, and injured hundreds of Americans. The peanut butter salmonella epidemic was just one among several that have come out since then, and which continue to crop up at nauseating intervals.

Every year, according to research conducted by the Produce Safety Project, more than 76 million Americans suffer from a food borne illness. The researchers calculated the costs of these illnesses by adding not just the medical and hospital costs that the patient incurred, but also the lost quality of life as a result of the illness.They arrived at the total figure of $157 billion every year from these illnesses.

Auto Defect Blamed in Fayette County Child’s Death

It’s too soon to tell for sure, but investigators seem to believe that a mechanical defect was to blame for the tragic death of a 6-year-old child in Fayette County last week. The accident occurred when the Chrysler Sebring 1999 which was apparently in park mode, began rolling down the driveway, and struck the boy. He died instantly.The Fayette County sheriff’s office is blaming a defective ignition park interlock device for the accident.

Auto defects have been heavily in the news over the past couple of months. Aconspiracy of silence is currently unraveling at Toyota. Auto defects are being blamed for uncontrolled acceleration in several Toyota vehicles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has already confirmed 34 reports of deaths or severe injuries as a result of accidents caused by the acceleration.