Vehicle Recalls

Consumer Affairs took a complaint from a woman who owned a 1999 Ford F-150 pickup truck that dropped its gas tank while she was driving it and breaking for a red light, with her entire family in the vehicle. The woman says she contact Ford, who informed her there was not a recall for the vehicle at the time, and the woman filed a complaint with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

Now, the NHTSA has begun an investigation into the pickup truck model years 1997 through 2001. The problem may be with a defective steel strap designed to hold the gas tank into the place. Over time the frame can weaken and fail. The gas tanks can then slip down and contact the pavement or fall off the truck entirely. This situation is particularly dangerous if the tank is dragged along the pavement, causing friction that could ignite gasoline spilling from open holes in the tank. Fortunately, no one has been injured from this potential fire hazard; however according to Consumer Affairs, two fires have been reported.

Ford has already expanded its recall of the F-150 to correct front airbags that deploy for no reason. About 1.2 million of the 2004 to 2006 model year vehicles have been recalled.

Florida product liability law allows the consumer to hold a manufacturer, designer, or distributor responsible for defective or dangerous products that are put into commerce. A product does not meet the expectations of the consumer if it is defective or dangerous.

Farah & Farah’s Florida defective vehicle lawyers can file a claim based on state law and brought under theories of negligence, strict liability, or breach of warranty. Call us for a complimentary consultation today.

While this doesn’t apply to Florida, if you travel up north this news in the Detroit Free Press warns about a problem with the Ford 1999-2003 Windstar minivans.

On Monday, January 31, the Ford Motor Company recalled 425,288 of the vans registered in 22 cold-weather states, including Washington D.C., because of problems with the subframe bracket and mounts that can separate and cause the driver to lose control.

Last August Ford recalled about 600,000 1998-2003 Windstars in cold states where the rear axles were corroding and breaking due to the road salt used in certain states. The brackets and mounts are important because they hold the subframe which carries the front suspension, the engine, transmission, brakes, wheels and steering gear. Ford has reportedly had fewer than 100 complaints and owners can expect to receive a letter to bring the minivans into the dealer for an inspection. Ford will offer to buy back any van it cannot repair.

USA Today reports on a 28-year-old Massachusetts man who was killed in October when his rear axle broke and he lost control of the van, crashing it into a building. The family said they had no idea of the recall and received no information from Ford until after the crash.

Our condolences go out to the friends and family of this man.

When a product is defective, the manufacturer and distributor can be held liable for producing a defective product. Farah & Farah’s Florida product liability attorneys will conduct a thorough investigation to find out the source of the defective automobile or component so we can advocate for you before the manufacturer. When you buy a product, there is an explicit promise that that product is safe and will work as advertised. A product liability action will hold a manufacturer to that promise.

After reports from eight unsatisfied customers experienced a steering defect, Hyundai is recalling almost 140,000 of its 2011 Sonatas. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says the defect could cause the driver to lose control of the vehicle.

Hyundai is a Korean manufacturer that was hoping its new line would successfully compete with Toyota’s Camry and the Honda Accord. This recall is a setback.

NHTSA suspects the problems is the “intermediate shaft universal joint connections may have been either improperly assembled or insufficiently tightened.”

The New York Times reports that the Sonatas were assembled in Montgomery, Alabama beginning in December of last year up through September 10, 2010.

NHTSA is not aware of any accidents that have resulted from the steering defect, but the agency says the “the driver could experience a loss of or reduction in steering capability, increasing the risk of a crash,” the agency said in a document posted recently on its website.

You may recall that Toyota earlier this year was penalized with the largest fine ever issued by NHTSA for failing to notify regulators as soon as they were aware of problems with Toyota vehicles. NHTSA has since opened an investigation into whether automakers are complying with the rule. Specifically, the agency wants to know whether Hyundai reported steering problems with the Sonata as soon as it received the reports.

One of the first things that Farah & Farah does in an auto accident case is to determine if the automobile was defective. The case could also become a product liability case with a claim against the automaker.

An accident can result from a defective automobile in its entirely or component parts such as the seat belt or tires. An experienced Florida auto product liability law firm has attorneys trained in recognizing these defects in different types of accidents.

Mazda has issued a recall of its 2007-2009 Mazda 3 and Mazda 5’s because of a steering problem.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says the loss to power assist in the steering can increase the risk of a crash. Mazda says the problem occurs when rust forms inside the high-pressure pipe on the power steering system and particles enter the power steering pump, causing it to shut down, reports the New York Times.

In the U.S., 215,000 vehicles will be recalled one year after Mazda began fixing a similar problem in vehicles in Japan.

Mazda says it was not receiving a large number of complaints in the U.S., so it adopted a “wait-and-see” attitude and instead issued a technical bulletin to dealers to tell them how to fix the problem.

However, the problems did not go away in the U.S. and last year the NHTSA received 33 complaints about power steering. It then began a safety investigation.

The problem with this wait-and-see attitude is that under law, automakers are supposed to alert federal auto regulators within five days after they know they have a problem. A failure to do so is what brought Toyota a record $16.4 million fine when it delayed reporting for four months concerning the sticky pedal defect.

Mazda could be facing the maximum fine for failing to promptly recall vehicles – $15 million. The Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 2010 is threatening with an even bigger stick – allowing the government to fine automakers up to $300 million for failing to promptly notifying the appropriate agency of a problem with a defective automobile.

No surprise, automakers are fighting that provision.

Florida auto product recall attorneys would like to remind you to be safe and if you experience this problem in your Mazda vehicle, contact your dealer to have it repaired right away.

They are brand new cars that already have recall orders. The federal government is recalling, in cooperation with Chrysler, about 22,000 SUVs and trucks to fix a defective brake tube that can lead to the loss of brake fluid.

According to a Huffington Post article, the 2010 Chrysler vehicles included are the Dodge Nitro, Dodge Ram, Jeep Liberty, and Jeep Wranglers. Chrysler owners should be notified in August.

Meanwhile the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, in cooperation with Ford Motor Company, is recalling about 30,000 Transit Connect vans. The problem there is in the inadequate pushpins that hold the liners above the head of the driver. They need to be replaced because the pushpins do not meet federal standards for head protection in a crash. The Ford recall should begin in July and covers all of the Transit Connect vehicles sold in the United States made from December 2008 through May 2010.

Ford can be reached at 866-436-7332. NHTSA can be reached at 888-327-4236.

To determine if your car is included in the defective vehicle recall, check the driver-side door jamb. The sticker there lists the date of assembly.

Chrysler is still emerging from bankruptcy it filed last year.

Toyota is not the only car company involved in massive recalls. Japanese automaker Nissan has recalled 540,000 pickup trucks, SUVs and minivans to repair faulty brake pedals and fuel gages, according to this article. The recalls are also taking place in Canada, the Middle East, and Russia. The brake pedal problem is forcing the recall of 179,000 vehicles in the U.S. So far there have been no reports of injuries due to the defective parts.

And there have been more than 76,000 vehicles recalled in Japan because of problems with electric cables that connect to the engine. Nissan says there have been no reports of injuries but it found the defective part during the manufacturing of brake pedal pins. There have been reports of partial disengaging. Fuel gauges that are defective can show the driver he has more gas than he actually does.

The recall involves the Infiniti QX56 SUV, the Armada SUV and Quest minivan and the Titan pickup. The fuel gauge recall includes the same vehicles (minus the Quest) as well as the Pathfinder and Xterra SUV and Frontier pickup from model years 2005 to 2008.