Articles Posted in Vehicle Defects

Automotive Discovery reports lawmakers are considering a pair of proposed bills that would limit the rights of accident victims in crashes involving defective vehicles.

The bills (Florida Senate Bill 142 and House Bill 201) may place undue blame on drivers involved in car accidents in Fort Myers and elsewhere in the U.S., instead of keeping the blame on manufacturers for their faulty products.

Our Fort Myers defective products attorneys know that hundreds of recalls are issued each year involving defects. Many of those have the potential to either cause an accident or increase the risk of serious or fatal injury in the event of an accident. Defective car parts and manufacturing can pose potentially deadly threats when car makers put profits ahead of people.

The two bills proposed in legislature will attempt to allocate blame. Currently, Florida law places blame in the lap of the manufacturer in accidents involving defective vehicles.

The bill “changes Florida law to permit juries in a Florida courtroom to hear all of the facts leading up to a products liability case, thereby allowing that jury to apportion fault,” said Sen. Garrett Richter, R-Naples, sponsor of SB 142. “It’s an opportunity to put all the facts on the table.”

Richter is also backing insurers in opposition of a bill that would require them to pay upfront replacement costs in the event of an accident — current law permits them to withhold part of the payment until proof that repairs are being made.

The occurrence of crashworthiness-related cases have increased nearly 400 percent in Florida over the last 10 years while national cases are down roughly 50 percent, according to The Florida Bar News.

“We Floridians buy these vehicles and we are led to believe that they will be safe, and safe from inherent defects that will cause secondary issues that can cause even more damage, injuries to people,” said Sen. Maria Sachs, R-Delray Beach. “Those manufacturers should be held accountable whether it’s a tractor, or a motor vehicle.”

Regardless of driver error, the company should still be held liable for producing a defective product.

With the new bill effective in Florida courts, drivers may fall victim to faulty products twice, once in a car accident and once in court. The house bill will not apply to law enforcement first-responders involved in car accidents, according to Automotive Discovery. The average motorist should be afforded the same protections.

We urge you to contact our Florida State Lawmakers to oppose this bill and keep responsibility for faulty products where it belongs — with the manufacturers. No driver should be punished for an accident in which a defective product influenced the outcome.

If you’ve been involved in a car accident involving a defective or recalled product, it is more important than ever to contact an experienced attorney to help you fight for your rights. Don’t let the court system blame you for poor manufacturing.
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After announcing within the last two weeks that it was recalling a huge number of various models of vehicles due to problems with the accelerator pedal, Toyota Motor Corp. announced a worldwide recall of as many as 437,000 hybrid cars, including its popular Prius model, because of what may be problems with the braking system.

Additionally, Japanese news sources were reporting on Monday that Toyota was also gearing up to warn owners of the Lexus HS250h, also a hybrid model, that their cars may require similar repairs. This revelation will only further damage the Japanese auto maker by dragging its luxury line of vehicles into the same quagmire, and continue to damage the reputation of what had generally been regarded as one of the most quality-conscious car makers in the world.

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received about 100 complaints involving the brakes of the Prius model. Two involved crashes resulting in injuries. (It is being reported that Prius models manufactured since May 2009 are not effected by the potential recall). Prius owners have reported what seemed to be a slight lag time between depressing the brake pedal and the actual slowing of the cars, as well as a pulsing of the brake pedal when braking on a bumpy road. While Toyota has said it is investigating the purported problems, it has also said it does not believe that there are safety concerns with the cars, and are questioning whether a problem actually exists.

If you are the owner of one of several different models of Toyota vehicles, your car, pick-up or SUV may be affected by a massive safety recall undertaken by the Japanese automaker.

In September 2009, Toyota announced the recall of 4.3 million vehicles it said were susceptible to an accelerator pedal that could become stuck. At the time, Toyota indicated the fault of the problem was related to the car’s floor mats. Subsequently, the manufacture released an announcement that the fix would involve “trimming” the pedal mechanism. However, a Toyota website now says “In rare instances, there is a possibility that certain accelerator pedal mechanisms may mechanically stick in a partially depressed position or return slowly to the idle position”, and makes no mention of the floor mats.

In January, an additional 600,000 Toyota vehicles were added to the recall list. Toyota, which has enjoyed a long-standing reputation as an industry leader in quality and customer satisfaction, shocked the automotive world and its dealer network when it told its dealers to stop selling eight models, including the Camry and Corolla sedans, two of the biggest sellers in the U.S. market. Other models affected by the move include the RAV4 and Highlander sport-utility vehicles and the Tundra pickup truck. They also announced they were halting production of the recalled vehicles for an undetermined amount of time.