January 28, 2010

Toyota Recalls More Vehicles for Safety Reasons

Toyota announced earlier today that they are issuing a recall on cars that have a certain type of floor mats that come standard in many of their models. The floor mats are being recalled because there is a serious danger that the gas pedal may get caught in the floor mat and jam, causing drivers to be unable to stop their car in time to avoid car accident. The Toyota models that are directly affected by this newest recall are Highlanders, Corollas, Venzas, Matrixes, and Pontiac Vibes.

The danger behind this type of problem is that if drivers are experiencing stuck gas pedals and are therefore unable to control their vehicle, there will be many more car accidents caused when these drivers are unable to control their car. This extremely dangerous problem must be addressed immediately. Toyota is handling the problem by taking all cars affected and either replacing the gas pedals or modifying the surface on which the pedal sits in order to keep the gas pedal from sticking. If you have any reason to believe your car may be affected by this recall, or even if you have a newer model Toyota, please check this list of recalls issued by Toyota to see if your car is affected so you can take it to your local Toyota dealership to get the problem fixed immediately.

Unfortunately this is not the first of this type of recall that Toyota has been forced to make recently. Earlier this year, Toyota issued a recall for a different problem that also involved unintentional acceleration. An additional recall from 2009 is still in affect as well. According to Consumer Affairs, some customers that experienced problems early on have found that Toyota was not quick to deal with these horrible deficiencies in their vehicles, and while no figures have been released how many car accidents have occurred that may have been avoided in Toyota had immediately dealt with this problem, the likelihood that many of these avoidable car crash occurred is high.

If you find yourself driving and the gas pedal gets stuck, it is important to try to stay calm and Toyota has recommended that if you apply firm and steady pressure to the brake, the car will be able to be controlled again. If you have had an accident as a result of a stuck gas pedal, please contact a local car accident attorney to see what actions can be taken, hopefully in order to keep this scary incident from happening to other drivers.

January 27, 2009

Wrongul death lawsuit filed by John Perconti of Levin & Perconti after woman dies in car accident

John J. Perconti of Levin & Perconti has filed a wrongful death lawsuit in Kane County, Illinois on behalf of a woman who was killed in a serious car accident last fall. The 32-year-olc woman’s vehicle was hit by a truck, causing her to crash into the Illinois Department of Transportation dump truck in front of her. The woman is survived by her husband and 3-year-old son, who were both seriously injured in the truck accident. The truck driver was reportedly under the influence of marijuana and half of the brakes on his semitrailer were deemed out of alignment and inadequate for stopping. Although criminal charges have not been filed yet, the death has been ruled a homicide.

For the Northwest Herald article, click here.
For the Daily Herald article, click here.

December 30, 2008

Floor mats to blame in some car accidents

Defectively designed floor mats may be to blame for some car accidents that occur. In some cases, pedals have stuck to the mats, causing car accidents. In others, the mats interfered with one or more pedals.

For the full article.

June 14, 2007

Illinois appellate court rules on GM product liability lawsuit

The Illinois 1st District Appellate Court vacated a direct verdict for GM and remanded the matter for trial, finding that the plaintiff did present enough evidence of a design defect to warrant product liability. In 1999, the plaintiff sustained a severe burn injury after the rear seat of his van exploded into flames after trying to start the van for 10 minutes. At trial in the Cook County Circuit Court, the plaintiff alleged that the design defect rendered the van a fire hazard, but the jury found in favor of GM. The appeals court, however, ruled that GM should have tested the van in order to detect the defect and prevent automobile accidents, and the fact that the victim repeatedly tried to start the van was an act an ordinary consumer would perform without “expect[ing] the interior of the van to ignite.” The plaintiff’s expert presented sufficient evidence to support that specific industry standards of care were not met for the particular defects he identified.