A second recall involving faulty airbags was announced on Saturday, January 31, 2015. According to news reports, about half of the more than 2.12 million vehicles in this recall had previously been recalled for a separate defect and repaired with a partial replacement. The partial replacement did not correct the […]
Category: Product Liability
Takata Executive Grilled in Senate Hearing over Airbag Issues
A senior executive with airbag manufacturer Takata was grilled at a Senate hearing this week. Senators received non-committal answers in response to questions of the executive regarding whether Takata accepted responsibility for injuries and deaths caused by defective airbags. So far, more than 14 million vehicles from 11 automakers have […]
New York Times Reports on Increasing Concern Over Safety of Takata Airbags
In an article published October 20, 2014, the New York Times reported on safety concerns with Takata airbags and problems with an expanding recall. Due to breadth of the safety issues, both with the sheer number of vehicles and the age of many of the vehicles affected, there has been […]
Ohio Joins Ban of Trinity Guardrail ET-Plus
With Ohio being the most recent state to ban the installation on the Trinity guardrail system ET-Plus, 31 states have now banned the deadly guardrail system. Trinity barely met a deadline of October 31 from a federal agency to provide plans for new tests on the end terminal unit that […]
FHWA Calls for Guardrail Maker to Conduct New Crash Tests
In the wake of a jury finding that a leading guardrail maker, Trinity Industries, defrauded the federal government by failing to report design changes to a widely used guardrail system, the Federal Highway Administration demanded that Trinity perform new crash tests on guardrails. In a letter to the president of […]
State of Virginia Will Remove ET-Plus Guardrails
Trinity Industries failed to meet a November 24 deadline given by the state of Virginia to provide results of additional safety testing of the company’s ET-Plus guardrail system. Virginia now plans on removing all of the end terminal units from its roads and will seek reimbursement from Trinity for the […]
ET-Plus Guardrail Scrutiny Grows
The state of Virginia in a letter to the manufacturer of the ET-Plus guardrail end terminal stated that it is considering removing all of the guardrails presently installed and not installing any new ET-Plus system unless Trinity Industries conducts testing on the redesigned unit by October 24. Read more here. […]
More States Ban ET-Plus Guardrail
Missouri and Massachusetts have joined Nevada in banning the installation of the ET-Plus guardrail end terminal that has been linked to five deaths and many more injuries nationwide. According to a New York Times article, while federal highway officials have long insisted that the guardrails are safe, internal documents reveal […]
ABC News Reports on Guardrail Crashes and Safety
A recent ABC News report interviewed the inventor of the Trinity ET-Plus guardrail system on the design change made to the guardrail end terminal in 2005 that has been linked to an increased number of crashes involving loss of limbs and death. “I was not involved in that change, and […]
General Motors Suspends Two Engineers Over Ignition Defects
General Motors CEO Mary Barra announced Thursday morning that GM has suspended with pay two GM engineers while the company seeks ‘the truth about what happened’ and how it took ten years for GM to issue a safety recall of vehicles with defective ignition switches. The two employees were not […]