North Carolina Product Liability Blog : North Carolina Product Liability Lawyer & Attorney : D. Hardison Wood : Toy Safety, Child Restraint, Car Seats

Ford has recently lost a lawsuit in New York. This case gives value to the argument that the roof standards in our vehicles need to be reexamined. And more importantly manufacturers must ensure that they selling a product that is within the standard. In addition, this case raises yet another defect that we have been seeing lately in various cars: cruise control issues.  Ed Bell and his law firm in Georgetown, SC represented plaintiffs in this action on liability.  We congratulate Ed and his team and hope this verdict sends a message to Ford: safety is job one.

Ford must pay $6.5 million to the family of a 60-year-old man who died in a 2000 rollover accident involving an Explorer, a New York jury said Thursday.

The family of Steven Motelson claimed a cruise-control defect caused him to lose control of the Explorer and that an inadequate roof failed to protect him in the subsequent rollover.

Read the Article

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks

There has been yet another car recall because of a threat of fire. This time it involves GM Buick Regals and Pontiacs.

WASHINGTON, D.C. — General Motors has recalled 207,542 1997-2003 Buick Regal GS and Pontiac Grand Prix GTP models with 3.8-liter supercharged V6 engines over a risk that they could catch fire. The recall includes a strong warning not to park the vehicles "in a garage, carport or other structure" to avoid the risk of fire.

"Certain underhood fires may be caused by drops of engine oil being deposited on the exhaust manifold through hard braking," says the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) in the recalls summary on its Web site. "If the manifold is hot enough and the oil runs below the heat shield, it may ignite into a small flame and, in some instances, spread to the plastic spark plug wire channel." Other documentation adds that "most cases have occurred five to 10 minutes after the vehicle has been turned off."

The NHTSA reports that the problem has caused 267 fires to date and six injuries, five of which are minor. There are no fatalities associated with the problem. Read more

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Due to the crashworthiness and products liability focuses at our law firm, we unfortunately hear about deaths caused by rollovers quite often and even more often deaths caused by SUV rollovers. The grief a family mist endure is heart wrenching. However, once in awhile we hear about or read about someone taking such a tragedy and doing something to move forward in a positive way. These stories provide a sense of hope and also keep the focus on working towards tougher safety in vehicles.

After everything that he has been through, Lee Wagner has decided to go for a walk. 

Not a routine stroll, but a 380-mile journey on a surgically repaired knee in an effort to raise money for the scholarship fund that bears the names of his two children. 

The walk will take him through Georgia and both Carolinas. As he walks, he will share his story, his wife Debbie Wagner’s story and most importantly, the story of their beloved children, Jillian and "Little" Lee Wagner, with anyone who cares to join him for a mile or two along the way.

Lee Wagner will walk because he wants to raise awareness about traffic accidents and SUVs.  He will walk because people grieve in different ways. He will walk because after four long years, “The pain is still fresh,” as he continues to search for moments of peace. Read the entire article

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks

Our children and their  safety is something about which we care deeply. That is why our law firm involves itself in various types of litigation involving child safety. Awhile back we were touched by a video we saw on youtube about a young boy, Kyle David Miller (see here). He unfortunately was killed in a car crash. He was not in a five point harness, but rather a booster seat which utilized the car's seat belt. When we personally saw the video, our family was driven to find a booster seat for our children that had a five point harness. We realized that the booster seat we were using, which used our car's seat belt, was not securing our children the way they needed. We have since learned that there has been a foundation set up in  memory of Kyle which collects money in order to buy 5 point harness seats for children up to 80 lbs. who otherwise would not have access to them. Check  out the video and website to learn more  about the foundation. 

• Email This
• Print
• Comments (1)
• Trackbacks

Evenflo has announced a recall of  over 1 million car seats. Please ensure your child's car seat is not affected.

Make / Models :		Model/Build Years:
EVENFLO / 390 (DISCOVERY)		2005-2008
EVENFLO / 391 (DISCOVERY)		2005-2008
EVENFLO / 534 (DISCOVERY)		2005-2008
EVENFLO / 552 (DISCOVERY)		2005-2008
Recall Number:	08C002000
Summary:
EVENFLO IS RECALLING 1,000,000 MODELS 390, 391, 534, AND 552 DISCOVERY CAR SEATS OR ASSOCIATED TRAVEL SYSTEMS MANUFACTURED FROM APRIL 2005 THROUGH JANUARY 2008. IN RECENT LABORATORY TESTS CONDUCTED BY EVENFLO AND NHTSA TO EVALUATE THE PERFORMANCE OF THESE SEATS IN HIGH IMPACT SIDE COLLISIONS, IT WAS REVEALED THAT THE CAR SEAT COULD POTENTIALLY BECOME SEPARATED FROM ITS BASE UNDER THESE CONDITIONS.
Consequence:
SERIOUS INJURY OR DEATH COULD RESULT IF THE CAR SEAT BECAME SEPARATED FROM ITS BASE.
Remedy:
EVENFLO WILL NOTIFY REGISTERED OWNERS AND PROVIDE A FREE SUPPLEMENTAL DUAL-HOOK FASTENER TO ENSURE THAT THE CAR SEAT REMAINS ATTACHED TO ITS BASE IN A HIGH IMPACT SIDE COLLISION SIMILAR TO THOSE IN THE RECENT TESTS. THE RECALL IS EXPECTED TO BEGIN DURING FEBRUARY 2008. TO OBTAIN THE FREE FASTENER, OWNERS SHOULD CALL EVENFLO AT 1-800-356-2229 BETWEEN 8 AM AND 5 PM EST OR ORDER ONLINE AT THEIR WEBSITE AT WWW.EVENFLO.COM/DISCOVERY.
Notes:
EVENFLO HAS NOT MADE A DECISION THAT THESE UNITS CONTAIN A SAFETY RELATED DEFECT, HOWEVER EVENFLO WILL PROVIDE A FREE SUPPLEMENTAL DUAL-HOOK FASTENER. CUSTOMERS MAY ALSO CONTACT THE NATIONAL HIGHWAY TRAFFIC SAFETY ADMINISTRATION'S VEHICLE SAFETY HOTLINE AT 1-888-327-4236 (TTY 1-800-424-9153), OR GO TO HTTP://WWW.SAFERCAR.GOV.

• Email This
• Print
• Comments
• Trackbacks