Category: Auto Product Liability

Transportation safety officials at organizations like the NHTSA have known since 2001 that 15-passenger vans are prone to roll over in a crash when loaded with passengers. Officials have delivered safety warnings to carmakers as well as the public. Still, there are many churches and organizations all over Kentucky, in Louisville, and nationwide that depend on these vans and use them on a daily basis to transport passengers—often including children—to where they need to be.

According to a recent investigation launched by Courier Journal, 600 people have been killed in single-vehicle rollovers involving 15-passenger vans since the safety warnings were issued 17 years ago. The most common vans in these accidents are made by Ford, Chrysler, and GM. The 2002 Ford E350 is one of the most well-known accident-causing culprits.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration concluded on Thursday, October 20th that a recent car crash in Riverside County, California was fatal due to yet another defective airbag deployment.  Takata airbags, the Japanese brand of airbag installed in nearly every major brand of vehicle on the road, has been named the cause of death in now 11 car crashes on U.S. roadways and responsible for more than 100 injuries. 

Instead of softening the impact of a crash, the airbags have been known to explode and deploy metal shrapnel into the bodies of persons inside the vehicle.  First responders arriving on scene of a crash have reported the bodies of passengers appearing to have been shot or stabbed.

A fatal accident occurring in Williston, Florida on May 7 is now under investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Joshua Brown, a 40-year-old man from Canton, Ohio, died when his Tesla Model S electric sedan crashed into the side of a tractor-trailer. The car was in self-driving mode and failed to apply the brakes when the tractor-trailer made a left turn in front of the vehicle. Federal regulators, who are in the early stages of setting guidelines for autonomous vehicles, have opened a formal investigation into the incident. This is the first known fatal accident involving a vehicle controlling itself by means of computer software, sensors, cameras, and radar.

This past Tuesday, the U.S. Government announced a $14.7 billion settlement with the automobile manufacturer, Volkswagen, settling claims that the company used illegal devices to defeat and inaccurately pass diesel engine emissions tests. The settlement is the largest automobile settlement ever in U.S. history, and is drawing international attention. Countries all over the world are now taking action against Volkswagen, demanding compensation and justice for buyer around the globe.

The U.S government announced a settlement with Volkswagen on Tuesday regarding the automakers massive emissions scandal first revealed in September 2015. The $14.7 billion settlement is the largest automotive industry settlement agreement ever made and will be used to compensate owners for the reduction in their car value and buyback or repair the faulty vehicles. $10 billion will be used to compensate owners and $4.7 billion to contribute to an environmental remediation fund and zero-emission vehicle technology research.