Articles Posted in Product Liability

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All manufacturers of light vehicles who signed a 2016 agreement  have fulfilled the commitment they made to equip their vehicles with crucial auto emergency braking systems to prevent car accidents.

The 2016 agreement was brought about by the efforts of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety.  Twenty automakers participated in the agreement in which they agreed to substantially increase the number of manufactured vehicles equipped with automatic emergency braking systems. According to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, between August and September 2023, additional automakers fulfilled their pledge of installing auto emergency braking systems on 95% of their light vehicles. With this, all 20 automakers that signed the agreement are in fulfilment of their commitment.

This means that a majority of the light vehicles that weigh less than 8,500 pounds on our roads will be equipped with this crucial car accident prevention technology. Some auto manufacturers, including Honda, now have close to 100% of their light vehicles equipped with auto emergency braking systems while other manufacturers have at least 95% of their light vehicles equipped with these car accident prevention systems.

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Auto Accident  prevention systems like front crash avoidance  technology and lane departure warning systems play a significant role in protecting motorists and passengers.  However,  when there is any malfunctioning or problems reported with these systems, repairs can be challenging to complete.

The  Insurance Institute for Highway Safety is reporting on a recent analysis of the repairs of auto crash prevention systems in automobiles.  Many of these systems including rear view camera systems and blind spot detection systems can play a tremendous role in helping keep motorists safe and preventing car accidents.  However,  when motorists take these cars in for repairs after the technology malfunctions or because the system is giving an error message, or  after an auto accident,  they find that repairs are not always satisfactory.  According to the study, many motorists continue to face problems with the technology even after repairs have apparently been completed.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety study surveyed approximately 500 drivers.  Most  of the drivers in the study had taken in their car for repairs after experiencing problems with the safety technology in their automobile.  In  some cases, the problems appeared after an auto accident while in other cases, the repairs were the result of a recall or the result of a recommendation by the automobile repair shop. Repair issues were more likely to be seen when the car had been involved in a car accident.  Incomplete repairs were also much more likely to be seen in those cases in which the windshield replacement was required as part of auto repairs.

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Auto braking systems that use sensors, cameras and other devices to determine whether the vehicle is too close to the vehicle in front can significantly reduce the risks of auto accidents involving pickup trucks.   However, according to a new study, far too many pickup trucks are lacking this important safety feature.

Many automobiles now come with automatic braking systems that significantly reduce the risk of certain types of auto accidents, specifically rear-ender accidents.   Pickup truck manufacturers have been slow to add these very important safety features to their vehicles. A new study conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety lays down exactly how important automatic braking systems are for pickup trucks.

The study used data from 25 states between 2007 and 2012,  and the researchers found in their analysis that the rate of rear-end car accidents involving pickup trucks was 43% lower in cases in which the truck was equipped with an automatic braking system. In cases of auto accidents involving an injury, the rate was 42% lower in the case of pickup trucks equipped with automatic braking systems.  Overall, there was a 73% reduction in the number of injurious and fatal car accidents involving pickup trucks, when these vehicles were equipped with auto braking systems.

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From choking and suffocation hazards to burn risks, there are a number of ways that the toys on this year’s list of most dangerous toys of 2017 can harm your child.   The consumer watchdog group World against Toys Causing Harm has made the job gift giving easier by compiling a list of the most dangerous toys this season.  There have already been countless children injured in Georgia by these dangerous toys.  If you’re considering buying any of the following toys as gifts, you may want to reconsider.

According to World against Toys Causing Harm, as reported by Consumer Reports, the toys on this year’s list are dangerous for a number of reasons.

The Hallmark Itty Bitty Baby Stacking Toy-These toys can pose a serious choking hazard to children. The Consumer Product Safety Commission recalled these toys in August 2017, but parents can still access these toys online.

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It’s not just young children who may be at risk of poisoning after ingesting brightly-colored and attractively packaged laundry pods. The Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is increasingly coming across cases involving seniors with dementia who have swallowed these pods by mistake, causing severe injuries, and in many cases, fatalities.

Laundry detergent pods are brightly packaged and come in several shiny hues.  These qualities make them extremely endearing to children. The pods are designed to dissolve as soon as the packaging comes into contact with water. Children are naturally attracted to shiny, colorful things.

Children can be at risk of poisoning as soon as they put these pods into their mouths. In fact, the CPSC is aware of incidents involving persons who died after swallowing or ingesting these laundry detergent pods. Ingesting even one such pod could be dangerous, and even lethal.

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Fidget spinners are all the craze. These are stress-relieving toys that are marketed as being an excellent tool to help people concentrate, maintain focus, and relieve stress and anxiety.

The public should be aware, however, that the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) is warning about swallowing risks involving fidget spinners. The agency says that it has received at least two reports of incidents involving children who swallowed parts of the popular gadget.

In one case that was reported to the CPSC, a 10-year-old girl swallowed a small piece of the toy and required surgery to have it removed from her intestine. In another case, a five-year-old boy swallowed a piece of the toy, began choking on it, and had to be rushed to the emergency department.

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Buying toys and gifts for loved ones this season?  Here are some tips to keep in mind, especially if shopping for young children.

Many popular toys come with severe injury risks, specifically the risk of eye injuries.  Injuries involving toys are far too common to ignore. The Consumer Product Safety Commission estimates that in 2014, there were approximately 251,800 injuries related to the use of toys reported to emergency rooms across the United States. That works out to approximately 500 child injuries every single day. Nearly 50% of these injuries involved children below the age of four.  And a significant 44% of those injuries involved injuries to the face and head areas.

The eyes are especially vulnerable to impact from projectiles, or sharp edges on children’s toys. These injuries can be severe, and even have permanent effects on the victim.  One study published recently in the JAMA Ophthalmology journal found that air guns, basketballs and baseballs cause approximately 50% of all sports-related eye injuries.

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Seatbelts are arguably the single most important automobile safety invention in history. However, when seatbelts are defective, there is a serious risk of injury to car occupants.

Seatbelt use across the United States is at close to all-time highs. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), in 2015, seatbelt use across the United States reached 88.5%. That was an increase from 86.7% recorded in 2014. Although that is not believed to be a statistically significant difference, it is encouraging to note that Americans continue to buckle up even though cars now come with several high-tech safety features. The fact is that in many different types of accidents, it is the seatbelt that significantly reduces the risk of serious injuries or death.

Make sure that you and other people in your car are always buckled-up while driving. Children must not be restrained in seatbelts unless they have reached the proper age and weight.

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Everyone’s talking about the exciting new toy that has had even the Vatican horrified. Whether Santa dropped a hoverboard in your Christmas stocking, or you couldn’t resist the urge to buy one for yourself, there’s a lot to know about these very intriging, but dangerous toys.

According to the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), hoverboards have been involved in a number of fire-related hazards. The CPSC is actively investigating reported fires and will continue to do so as new reports are made.

The agency is also testing these damaged and burned hoverboards for answers to several questions:

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Safety experts and Atlanta personal injury lawyers have been warning of the risk of child fatalities in furniture tip over accidents for many years.Last year, two toddlers were killed in furniture tip over accidents involving an IKEA dresser unit model. Now, IKEA North America is telling millions of owners of these dressers that these chests must be firmly anchored to the walls in order to prevent accidents of the type that killed the two toddlers.

IKEA has confirmed at least 14 tip over incidents that resulted in four injuries. The company says that the chest must be firmly anchored to the walls, in order to prevent injuries like these.

According to the US Consumer Product Safety Commission, one fatality involved a two-year-old boy in Pennsylvania who died in February last year, when a MALM chest of drawers fell on him. The boy was pinned to a bed, and died from his injuries. The second fatality involved a two-year-old child from Washington, who was killed in June of last year when a similar chest fell on him. According to IKEA North America, it has three other reports of child fatalities since 1989 involving tip overs of other models of chests. The company is offering free wall-mounting repair kits for 27 million dressers.

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