Over 50,000 2012 Honda Civics Recalled for Dangerous Driveshaft Defect
Pearland auto defect lawyers pass along news of another vehicle recall announced recently by the NHTSA (National Highway Transportation Safety Administration). More than 50,000 2012 Honda Civics are affected by recall in the U.S. The recall relates to the driveshaft portion of the driveline in the vehicle’s powertrain.
You probably know that the powertrain is the most important part of your vehicle – the part that makes it run. Much of your ability to control your vehicle depends upon reliable operation of your car’s driveshaft.
In the affected Civics, the required process for seating the driver’s side driveshaft and setting the retaining clip was not completed during assembly. Therefore, this driveshaft could separate from the central powertrain. If this happens, the affected Honda Civic will experience a loss of drive power and crash.
And if the parking brake has not been set when the gear selector is in “Park,” the car could roll away and injure you and other nearby pedestrians or bicyclists, and damage nearby property (until the vehicle strikes something that will stop its roll).
Honda has said it will notify owners of affected vehicles of the dangerous driveshaft defect. And Honda dealers will inspect the driver’s side driveshaft and replace it with a new one, if necessary, free of charge. Concerned Honda Civic owners can reach Honda Customer Service at 1-800-999-1009.
The injury and possible fatality dangers presented by a driveshaft that suddenly separates from the main powertrain are clear. Our Pearland auto defect lawyers remind you that over time, multiple fatal injuries have occurred when supposedly stopped or parked vehicles rolled forwards or backwards unexpectedly. Learn what to do if you experience serious injury because of a defective automobile by downloading our Pearland auto defect lawyers’ free book on the steps you could follow to make a successful car injury claim. It’s available at your convenience on this web page.
Certain 2012 buses of Blue Bird, major school bus maker, recalled
Houston bus accident lawyers mention a recent recall announced by the U.S. NHTSA. Therecall affects some buses from the 2012 model year that were manufactured by Blue Bird, one of the major manufacturers of school buses. You might remember the blue bird logo on school buses from your school years.
The recalled buses were manufactured from May 20, 2011 through October 20, 2011. All the recalled buses were from Blue Bird’s “All American” and “Vision” lines. These recalled buses were equipped with SMI (Specialty Manufacturing Inc.) Prolo roof hatches intended for use as escape hatches in the event of emergency. But increased friction between the rear plate assemblies (numbered P/No. 009327) and the nylon rear pop-up supports (numbered P/No. 008956) could result in an opening force on these roof hatches that exceeds federal safety requirements.
In other words, applying the force necessary to open the resisting hatch could result in a strong force upon hatch opening that could injure you. And, in the event of an emergency, our Houston bus injury lawyers caution that the extra friction, potentially causing injury to the bus occupants, could also hinder exit from the bus by the emergency hatchway.
The defective hatchway does not conform to the federal motor vehicle standard (No. 217) governing bus emergency exits and window retention and release. If you have one of the recalled buses, your defective emergency exit hatchway could cause its own emergencies. Blue Bird has said that it will notify owners of the defective vehicles. And SMI will provide service kits along with repair instructions to dealers and owners free of charge.
If your vehicle is subject to the recall, take advantage of the free repair. A bus with a useless or dangerous escape hatch could present dangers of injury or even fatality in the event of a serious bus emergency. If you’ve been injured in a bus accident or because of a defective vehicle part, please contact us at your convenience for a free legal consultation to discuss your accident and evaluate your options for making a full financial recovery for your needless injuries.
For more than 12 years, our dedicated Houston bus accident lawyers have been helping the injured victims of serious accidents of all types to successfully obtain the monetary compensation they’re due from those whose carelessness caused their injuries. Call us toll free at 877-307-9500 or use our convenient online contact features to schedule your free consultation.
Federal investigation of Jeeps for fire hazard expands to 5 million+ vehicles
You might remember that our Pasadena auto defect lawyers wrote about a recall on the Jeep Wrangler a while back. Well now federal authorities have expanded their investigation into the Wranglers’ safety due to additional fire hazards.
An initial recall of some 67,000 Jeep Wranglers with automatic transmissions affected the 2010 models. In those vehicles, the skid plates, set in close proximity to the catalytic converters, could accumulate debris and then ignite.
The expanded federal investigation covers more than 5,000,000 (5 million) Jeep vehicles. The expended federal probe of the Jeeps follows a series of rear-impact crashes involving older model Jeeps that have exposed a potential fire danger relating to the flawed fuel tankand fuel system architecture. The NHTSA says that 15 people have died in such fires in the Jeep Grand Cherokee.
Apparently the fuel system architecture represents a potential defect because it makes the vehicles particularly vulnerable to fire dangers in the event of a rear-impact crash. As the investigation is ongoing and final conclusions have not yet been reached, the NHTSA has not yet issued an official recall of the over 5 million affected vehicles.
For your information, so that you can take steps to avoid potential hazards in case you own one of these older model vehicles, the Jeeps under investigation are:
- 1993 – 2001 Cherokees,
- 1993 – 2004 Grand Cherokees, and
- 2002 – 2007 Jeep Libertys.
If you own one of the Jeep vehicles affected by the recall, our Pasadena auto defect lawyers suggest you continue to follow news of the federal investigation and its results. If your vehicle ultimately gets recalled, be sure to take it in for repair or other safety measures as recommended under the recall.
Contact our Pasadena auto defect lawyers for a free and confidential legal consultation if you suffer injury because of a defect in your vehicle. For more than 12 years, we’ve been helping injured victims of manufacturers’ product defects to make just financial recoveries for the harm they’ve needlessly suffered. Our skill, dedication, and experience could help you too.
Stay safe this summer: 2011 recreational boating accident statistics
Our Galveston boating injury attorneys present some of last year’s recreational boating accident statistics, as compiled by the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG), to remind you to take all reasonable safety precautions this year as you enjoy the water. Historically, ugly fatalities and severe injuries from personal watercraft (PWCs, commonly called “jet skis”) have been one of the greatest threats to all users of the water. Blunt force trauma is the most common type of fatal and non-fatal injury in PWC accidents.
While the actual numbers of PWC accidents have continued to rise as the numbers of PWCs in use has risen, the relative numbers of PWC accidents in relation to other boating accidents seem to have declined slightly in recent years. Our Galveston boating injury attorneys list below are some of the more significant statistics from the Coast Guard’s 79-page report:
- Overall, 2011 saw 4588 reportable recreational boating accidents, of which 758 were fatal and 3081 caused injuries. (A section in the USCG provides a list of those accidents considered non-reportable.)
- Recreational boating accidents led to $52 million in property damage in 2011.
- In comparison to 2010, the number of deaths from the reportable accidents increased 12.8%, although the number of accidents decreased by 0.35% overall. The number of injuries decreased 2.3%.
- 8 of every 10 boaters that drowned were using vessels less than 21 feet in length. PWCs average about 13 feet in length.
- The USCG lists the top 5 causes of recreational boating accidents as: operator inattention, improper lookout, operator inexperience, excessive speed, and machinery failure.
- Alcohol was listed as the leading contributing factor in the fatal accidents, responsible for 16% of the deaths.
- 70% of victims who died in fatal accidents drowned. 84% of these victims were not wearing life vests.
- The vessels most commonly involved in reported accidents were: motorboats at 47%, PWCs at 19%, and cabin motorboats at 14%.
- The primary accident type was a collision with another recreational vessel at 1002 accidents, 40 of which were fatal. The second most common accident type was flooding or swamping of a vessel. And the third primary type was collision with a fixed object, responsible for 58 deaths.
As these USCG recreational boating accident statistics demonstrate, there is danger out there on the water, and you need to take reasonable safety precautions as you use the waterways in order to preserve life and limb. Our Galveston boating injury lawyers suggest that you wear a life vest, take a course on proper water safety and watercraft operation, observe the “rules of the road,” maintain a safe distance between yourself and other vessels and swimmers, maintain a safe speed, and drink responsibly.
A close review of the USCG statistics indicates that a large number of the accidents are preventable if boaters observe caution and take keep necessary safety measures in mind. Take a look at the full USCG accident statistics report if you get a chance, and absorb its safety lessons. Our Galveston boating injury attorneys hope that when the statistics for 2012 emerge next year, that all the numbers we’ll see will be lower.
Bikers: wear your helmets – avoid deadly head injuries, TBI & bad hair
News outlets reported three fatal motorcycle accidents over the weekend in Austin, TX at the Republic of Texas (ROT) Rally. Last year, we discussed a number of serious and fatal accidents that occurred at a bike rally in Galveston. In most of the serious accidents, there was a common factor: the rider wasn’t wearing a helmet.
We won’t argue that a good motorcycle helmet will save your life in every accident. It won’t. For instance, the motorcyclist who died in Friday’s accident plummeted about 40 feet to the ground after losing control of his bike and falling from an overpass. Even the best helmet can’t help you then, and indications are that he was wearing a helmet.
And we understand the prevailing rationale, articulately uttered by at least one biker at the Austin rally, that when you choose to ride without a helmet, you know what you’re getting into. But are you prepared to face the costs of the most severe injuries you might incur if you suffer an accident while you’re riding without a helmet? Or are you hoping government coffers will remain solvent enough to pay for your medical costs and ongoing care? (I wouldn’t place my health as a stake on that bet.)
There were three fatalities at the ROT Rally. The two accidents on Saturday presented frequent motorcycle accident scenarios. In one, a passenger car suddenly turned in front of an oncoming bike. Car drivers notoriously fail to adequately account for the smaller profile of oncoming bikes and riders. It’s something I understand. When I’m behind the wheel of a car, I also have trouble accounting for the different sizes and sometimes speeds of smaller motorcycles, bicycles, and pedestrians.
That perception problem seems to form a natural part of how we humans process information and perceive complicated visual data. The problem is not going away. It’s best for all parties to try and remain aware of it as much as they can and to take precautionary measures.
Motorcyclists seem to perceive the problem and take safety measures more than others. But most bicyclists seem completely unaware of how difficult it is for motor vehicle drivers to account for their presence and adjust their speeds in time to be safe. I often see an oblivious bicyclist taking his or her chances in motor traffic and wondering if I’m gong to see them on the news accident reports later that evening.
With a little caution, passenger vehicles and motorcycles can safely share the roads together. Completely separate paths or lanes would probably be a safer answer for bicycles however. And cars too. Cars can suffer accidents trying to suddenly adjust speed or trajectory for a careless or heedless bicyclist.
When motorcycles do suffer collisions with other motor vehicles, the biker tends to get the worst of the encounter – helmet or no helmet. The biker is unprotected on his bike and subject to easy vehicle ejection. The passenger vehicle occupant is generally enclosed within metal walls and protected to some extent from ejection by seatbelts.
A biker launched into the air in a wreck can suffer severe impact on landing. Without a helmet, severe head injury and traumatic brain injury are frequent results. A good, well-fitting motorcycle helmet can protect you from the worst injuries in many cases. Learn about the increased survival rates and lower medical injury costs for helmet wearers in this informative article.
The evolution of Texas’ “no refusal” safety policies
Our Lake Jackson injury lawyers had written about Texas’ first statewide “no refusal” weekend centered on the July 4, 2011 holiday. That effort, designed to promote public safety on our roads by taking the drunk drivers off those roads, took in more than 1.400 DWI suspects across the state.
The success of that coordinated law enforcement safety effort has led to the expansion of “no refusal” policies across Texas since that time. San Antonio, for instance, observes the “no refusal” policy basically all the time. And Harris County, home of some of the nation’s highestDWI accident injury and fatality numbers, implements “no refusal” weekends almost every weekend.
Our Lake Jackson injury lawyers emphasize that the “no refusal” policy represents nothing new. Law enforcement personnel have historically had the right to request a warrant to obtain a forced blood sample on a DWI suspect that refused to voluntarily provide a sample.
But traditionally, the process of requesting and obtaining a warrant was slow, especially on holidays and weekends, when judges were generally on holiday themselves and unable to sign warrants. Once the warrant was obtained, and qualified medical personnel could extract a sample, the suspect might well be sober again. And severely annoyed.
The “no refusal” policy only streamlines the traditional process. On “no refusal” weekends, or in “no refusal” areas, coordinated efforts ensure that judges are available to review warrant requests and sign warrants, and that medical personnel and sample taking supplies are readily available to expedite procurement of a toxicology sample.
Texas’ implied consent rule also aids law enforcement in its efforts to curb drunken driving through implementation of no refusal policies. Our Lake Jackson injury lawyers explain that under the implied consent rule, Texas drivers, as a condition of obtaining their driver’s license, essentially consent voluntarily to blood alcohol sample taking and testing when police officers believe them impaired.
Wider implementation of no refusal polices and increased penalties for DWI offenses are intended to enhance public safety and take dangerous drunken drivers off the roads. Yet the problems of drunken driving shows little sign of abating, if drunken driving wreck reports in the news are any indicator.
No refusal provides peace officers with a greater ability to collect evidence against DWI suspects. Changes in penalties provide for harsher legal and financial consequences to convicted drunken drivers. Yet drunks continue to climb behind the wheel and drive seriously impaired until they crash. Those DWI crashes take a tremendous toll in injuries and fatalities among innocent victims.
Read about the alarming numbers of drunken driving injury and fatality accidents in Texas in our Lake Jackson injury lawyers’ DWI discussion here.
Some safety tips & cautionary words for your summer fun in the water
Swimming and boating injury lawyers understand that boating or swimming in the water during the hot summer months can be relaxing and fun, but it can also be dangerous. Authorities advise that many people overestimate their swimming abilities and strength, and then get into trouble when they reach deep water or a strong current or swim for too far or too long a period of time. Life vests are essential equipment anytime you’re swimming or boating out on open water. The vests could save the lives of weak swimmers and non-swimmers even in residential swimming pools.
Water rescue teams generally arrive after the fact of a drowning or boating accident. On open waters, there’s generally no “life guard” present to help prevent your accident if you overextend yourself in or on the water. Our swimming and boating injury lawyers caution that your summer fun on the water can quickly turn tragic if essential safety precautions aren’t taken.
Some of the dangers you might encounter on or in the water include:
- Hidden drop-offs in rivers, lakes, or streams that can swallow up the unwary swimmer or wader.
- Black water with no or limited visibility that hides hidden dangers and obstacles and impedes rescue efforts.
- Strong currents that can sweep boaters, swimmers, or fishermen into harm’s way.
- Lakes fed by rivers that have conditions that change with that river, such as fluctuating depth or composition.
- Cold water temperatures that could cause dangerous hypothermia or cold water shock.
- Hidden obstacles in the water like trees, boulders, concrete, or metal that can take a boater or swimmer unawares and cause fatal injury.
- Speeding or recklessly driven boats or jet skis that could cause a collision, run over a swimmer, or eject the vehicle’s occupant into the water in an accident.
- Water vehicles operating in too close proximity to each other or to bridges, piers, and other structures. A sudden collision could eject the occupants into the concrete or steel structures to suffer fatal injuries.
- Swimming or boating while intoxicated (BWI). BWI is not only illegal, but along with swimming while intoxicated, leads to an estimated 50% – 60% of adult drowning deaths. Alcohol impairs reflexes, your judgment, alertness, and swimming and boating abilities. Authorities could put a stop to your summer with an arrest for BUI or public intoxication. But taking you away from the water while you’re impaired could save your life and the lives of others.
Failing to follow basic safety rules in or on the water can lead to tragic accidents and injuries that could claim the life of yourself, your friends, or your family members. Our swimming and boating injury lawyers understand that you just want to have fun in the water this summer. And we don’t want to spoil your fun. We enjoy summer water outings too. The swimming and boating injury lawyers at Denena & Points just want you to stay safe. Take the necessary safety precautions to prevent water accidents, injuries, or fatalities, and enjoy many more summers to come.
Slip and fall injuries leading cause of amusement park injury claims
Amusement park injury lawyers know that occasional dramatic accidents on roller coasters, water slides, and other amusement park rides dot the news media. The coverage is often intense when there’s a catastrophic or fatal injury on the ride. But the largest category of personal injury claims against amusement park ride venues involve ordinary slip and fall injuries. These injuries account for approximately 33% of all amusement park injury claims, according to a study in the Orange County Register.
A patron might fall on a slick floor, slip on a spilled drink, become unsteady exiting an exciting ride, fall over an unnoticed curb, or trip on uneven pavement. And because amusement parks are under some pressure to avoid negative publicity and long, public court cases, many injury claims get settled quietly out of court. Another large group of claims, including many of the slip and fall cases, get dismissed for lack of merit.
Disneyland in Anaheim, CA has been the target of almost 140 personal injury lawsuits since 2007. Nearby Knott’s Berry Farm in Buena Park, CA, a venue with a name that doesn’t call to mind any particular threat of injury, has been hit with 50 of the lawsuits.
Rarely do personal injury claims against major entities like amusement parks go to trial. When they do end up in court, the injured claimants, up against powerful and well-funded defense teams, don’t often win. Injury claims against amusement parks involve complex considerations and elements of proof. Indeed, the Orange County Register found that Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm each lost only one jury trial on an injury claim since 2007. That’s a pretty solid record.
To increase your chances of making a successful personal injury claim after you’ve been hurt at an amusement park, contact an amusement park injury lawyer with actual, winning experience in the field. Contact the experienced amusement park injury lawyers at Denena & Points for a free and confidential initial consultation.
On chlorine & chlorine toxicity at water parks: what to watch out for
Water park accident attorneys realize that you’ve probably heard of chlorine and might even know a fair amount about the substance. You probably encounter it every day: in drinking water, salt, swimming pools, and at water parks for instance. Here our water park accident attorneys present a few interesting facts about chlorine and chlorine toxicity that you might not be aware of:
- Chlorine is one of the most common elements on Earth.
- Chlorine is one of the most active elements in nature, and will bond easily with many other elements.
- Chlorine is necessary for most life forms, including humans.
- Chlorine’s one of the two essential components of salt (sodium chloride).
- In its pale yellow-green gaseous form, chlorine smells like bleach.
- Chlorine gas is toxic to humans once it passes about 30 ppm (parts per million).
- Above 30 ppm, chlorine reacts with water in cells to form toxic hydrochloric acid.
- As a gas, chlorine severely damages the respiratory tract and irritates the eyes.
- Chlorine gas was first used as a weapon in WWI & poisoned about 2,000 U.S. soldiers.
- Chlorine works as an effective disinfectant because it oxidizes and damages microbes.
- During oxidation, chlorine forms various acidic compounds that can damage cells.
- Chlorine is used as a disinfectant in drinking water supplies as well as in swimming pools.
- Chlorine’s oxidizing properties can corrode swimming pool and water park equipment.
Chlorine is one of the most useful elements on Earth, a workhorse among the common elements. Chlorine compounds can be found in our water supplies as well as in many of our food products, for example: salt. Our water park accident attorneys emphasize that we couldn’t live without chlorine. But we also can’t live with too much of it.
Be careful how much chlorine you put in your pool. Once you exceed the amount the water will absorb, chlorine escapes as a gas. And you definitely don’t want a chlorine gas cloud hanging over your pool party. While it would be colorful, it also might be the very last colorful thing you see. Chlorine toxicity can easily kill.
If you’ve suffered injury at a pool or a water park, kindly give us a call. We’re here to help you. We’re experienced water park accident attorneys. We could help you in your quest for fair compensation if you’ve suffered an unexpected accident on your day of summer fun in the water.
On the dangers of modern industrial equipment to Texas workers
The Texas work accident lawyers at Denena & Points mention the cautionary example of an industrial equipment accident that occurred Saturday night at the B.C. Williams Bakery Service in Dallas. In this frightening work injury accident, a worker fell into an industrial dough mixer and became trapped.
If you’ve ever seen such a machine, you know that these industrial mixers, designed to prepare dough for thousands of loaves at one time, are enormous. They stand much taller than a man, and the mixing blades inside them are even more fearsome. Our Texas work accident lawyers caution that they can sever a man’s limbs or cleave him in half. Even if a man avoids the blade, if he gets pushed down into the highly viscous dough, he can quickly suffocate. The dough for soft white breads particularly has a glue-like consistency.
Someone reaching down onto the mixer can easily get pulled in further by contact with the inexorable vortex of the whirling dough. A slight misstep of loss of balance, and you could topple into an open mixer. Our Texas work accident lawyers note that many mixers are designed with heavy closures so that once in motion they, theoretically, can’t have anyone accidentally fall in. But some industrial mixers and other pieces of dangerous industrial equipment just don’t have all of the safety features that one might like.
When the Dallas worker fell into the bakery mixer, he became trapped in the dough near the blade and suffered severe injuries. Specially trained urban search and rescue workers were brought in to extract him from the industrial vortex. A surgical team from the renowned Parkland Hospital treated the man even as rescue teams worked to retrieve him from the doughy trap. It took an hour or more to free him. He may suffer permanent disabilities and disfigurement from his terrible industrial accident.
It’s not the type of accident that happens often. OSHA, state and municipal agencies are constantly developing new rules and regulations designed to prevent just such dangerous industrial accidents. But the rapid pace of technological evolution and the relentless nature of human creativity can defeat even the most carefully laid regulatory schemes.
On the rare occasions when such accidents do occur, they present special challenges. It’s significant that they also happen to provide fertile learning experiences for the urban search and rescue personnel more usually intended to rescue people from collapsed buildings after devastating tornadoes, hurricanes, earthquakes, and explosions.
As this Dallas bakery equipment accident demonstrates, our Texas work accident lawyers emphasize that the modern worker in the industrial or factory setting can be at heightened risk of injury or fatal accident. If you work in the presence of dangerous industrial equipment, take heed of this man’s misfortune and use the lesson of his terrible accident to act with extra caution and mindfulness of safety.
As studies of workers’ industrial equipment accidents show, sometimes the worker himself is at fault for causing the accident through carelessness or horseplay. But often the fault lies with:
- The equipment manufacturer that failed to design proper safety features into his machine or provided defective components;
- Those responsible for maintaining the equipment, who may have neglected their duties; or
- Employers that failed to provide adequate training, safety equipment, or safety conscious work practices and procedures.
Don’t become a victim of the cold, industrial landscape. If you are injured though and you have questions about what you should do to win compensation from those responsible for causing the accident, contact our experienced Texas work accident lawyers for a free and confidential consultation. Our injury law expertise and more than 12 years of experience could guide you to the legal options that will ensure you win the financial recovery you need o cope with your devastating accident.