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Ford Explorer, SUV victims fight back, see results

Brian Foley — Mon, 19 Nov 2007 09:30:47 GMT

Today, November 19, 2007, an expected class action settlement concerning Ford Motor Co. may impact 1 million Ford Explorer owners nationwide. SUVs, passenger vans and trucks kill 10,000 people and injure another 27,000 every year. Among them, the Ford Explorer in particular is a disaster waiting to happen for millions of Americans who drive them.

Between their flawed design that makes them susceptible to rolling over , their substandard roofs that can crush the carÂ¹s occupants and their history of relying on tires that are ticking time bombs http://www.injuryboard.com/topic/firestone-tires-overview.aspx, it is no wonder that profit-hungry executives at Ford have been on the receiving end of a torrent of litigation for years.

Meanwhile, deadly accidents continue to happen. On Saturday night, 7 people were killed in a Ford Explorer in Central California.

On July 5, 2006 in Menlo Park, Ca, the issue of its lethal design hit new proportions when a 1998 Ford Explorer rolled over and killed its three passengers after it was cut off by a speedy teenager driving a Mustang on U.S. Highway 101. Among the victims were two members of the Tongan Royal Family: Prince TuÂ¹ipelehake, 54 and Princess Kaimana, 45. The news sent shockwaves throughout the Tongan world and it is a tragedy that is still felt today.

The tragic accident has highlighted an ongoing issue that rests on the hands of Ford executives who continue to attempt to skirt responsibility for designing a metal box on wheels that has killed scores of Americans. Ford can no longer pass off the Explorer and other SUVs as a reliable and safe mode of transportation and Explorer owners deserve to know how dangerous this vehicle really is.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Car and Motorcycle Accidents.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Brian Foley

SUV Rollover Fatalities Still Frequent

Brian Foley — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 14:00:41 GMT

Despite what the car industry aficionados and government may claim, SUV rollovers continue to kill and maim. Take, for example, the single-vehicle SUV rollover crash last month that killed a 23-year-old man in Southern California . In another example in a case I am handling, three people were killed on July 5, 2006 in Menlo Park, Ca when the driver's 1998 Ford Explorer rolled over and killed them after it was cut off by a speedy teenager driving a Mustang on U.S. Highway 101. Among the victims were two members of the Tongan Royal Family: Prince Tu'ipelehake, 54 and Princess Kaimana, 45.

Just because the mainstream media has relaxed its coverage of SUV rollovers and faulty tires doesn't mean SUVs are no longer susceptible to dangerous solo accidents caused by its top-heavy design and poorly structured roofs.

As noted in the August 2007 edition of Auto Monitor, an Indian auto trade publication, Americans' views of car safety are "schizophrenic," because car companies tout technology designed to prevent accidents, but fail to invest in protecting occupants who actually do end up in accidents.

Of the 42,000 annual highway fatalities in the U.S., one-third came at the hands of rollovers. Furthermore, a majority of SUV deaths are from rollovers.

Recent media reports have framed auto death rates in a positive light, noting that driver deaths per million have decreased for newer model cars. SUV's supposedly have become safer, thanks to technologies like Electronic Stability Control.

Unfortunately, SUV drivers who blow a tire or swerve to avoid an accident are too preoccupied to be worried about national fatality rates if their car suddenly flips. Roof strength regulations rely on standards first established in 1973, which states that it must withstand 1.5 times the static force of its unloaded vehicle weight. As this study indicates, SUV roofs "crush significantly under loads that are 30 to 50 percent" the regulated standards.

Another aspect of SUV rollovers is tires. As noted in an April 2006 report by Safety Research & Strategies, tire-related fatalities in the Ford Explorers rose sharply between 2002 and 2004, well after the fallout from the 2000 tire scandal. Click here for more information on SUV rollovers.

Between vulnerable roofs and tires, the design of the SUV is something that can and should be thoroughly reviewed by automakers and regulators if fatality rates on the road are to truly improve. Meanwhile, SUV drivers should heed caution and drive with extra care while knowing that rollover accidents are a real possibility and continue to this day.

For more information on Car and Motorcycle Accidents, please refer to the section on Car and Motorcycle Accidents.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Brian Foley

San Jose Teen Unconscious After Car Accident, Expected To Survive

Chrissie Cole — Sun, 09 Aug 2009 19:35:00 GMT

Jessica Huse, 18, of San Jose, suffered serious injuries in a car accident Sunday morning on her way to church. According to her family, she is expected to survive, but she is still unconscious.

“She will eventually wake up, but we don’t know when,” a neurologist told the family. “And when she does wake up, we don’t know what we are up against. It’s a matter of waiting.”

Huse left her father’s house early Sunday to attend a 10 a.m. service at Twin Oaks Church. The accident happened when Huse pulled onto Blossom Hill Road. She made a left turn into oncoming traffic when she was struck by an oncoming vehicle. The driver is not believed to be at fault.

A police officer and a Good Samaritan watched over her until rescue arrived. She has been unconscious at the hospital since the crash.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Chrissie Cole

Ford Settles Lawsuit, and then Lies Again

Brian Foley — Thu, 29 Nov 2007 10:14:53 GMT

Ford settled a class action lawsuit in Sacramento on Wednesday but then proceeded to lie to the public and media, claiming that the settlement ended all outstanding lawsuits against Ford stemming from Explorer rollovers.

As reported in this Associated Press article, Ford spokeswoman Kristen Kinley claimed that the settlement, which will provide vouchers to Explorer owners to buy other Ford vehicles, "ends all the outstanding lawsuits against Ford stemming from the Explorer rollovers." That's a lie. Ford's credibility is as defective as the Explorer.

This settlement does not settle the case I am handling in which three people were killed on July 5 2006 in Menlo Park, Ca, including two members of the Tongan Royal Family. I am also handling another case in Albuquerque in which a teenaged male was killed in an Explorer rollover.

As noted by Bloomberg News, despite Wednesday's settlement, "Ford still faces hundreds of lawsuits across the U.S. over personal injuries involving Explorer rollovers."

SUV rollovers are still very frequent and real and should not be undermined by Ford spokespeople.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Car and Motorcycle Accidents.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Brian Foley

Strangulation Death Prompts Recall Of Hooded Sweatshirts & Drawstrings

Chrissie Cole — Thu, 12 Feb 2009 15:17:00 GMT

Hill Sportswear Inc., of Paramount, Calif., in cooperation with the CPSC, announced a voluntary recall of 300,000 children’s hooded sweatshirts after the death of a 3-year-old boy who was strangled when the drawstring of the sweatshirt became stuck on a playground.

The garments, Kid Pullover Hood Sweatshirts and Kid Zipper Sweatshirts w/Hood, have drawstrings through the hood. The agency advises consumers to immediately remove the drawstrings because they can become caught on objects and strangle a child.

The CPSC issued guidelines (pdf) to help prevent children from getting entangled or strangled on the neck and waist of drawstrings in upper garments, including sweatshirts and jackets.

Consumer Information: The garment can be returned to a place of purchase or Hill Sportswear for a full refund. For more information, consumers should contact Hill Sportswear toll-free at (877) 322-8760 between 8 a.m. and 5 p.m. (PT) Monday through Friday.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Chrissie Cole

Faulty Tires are Still on the Road

Brian Foley — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 14:56:06 GMT

Car manufacturers continue to place short-term profits ahead of consumer safety. Even with the infamous faulty tire scandal in 2000, automakers continue to try and cut corners in its design features, which poses a danger to unsuspecting drivers and passengers. Despite years of highly-publicized questions over faulty and neglectful car and tire manufacturing and their direct links to the injuries and deaths of scores of Americans, consumer safety remains a lower priority than sales.

The most recent example is highlighted in the August 2007 edition of The Safety Record, detailing the abhorred conduct of Foreign Tire Sales, an importer of tires from China. The company failed to monitor the denigration of its product's standards from its supplier, Hangzhou Zhongce Rubber Company, even though it knew of the potential hazards.

Foreign Tire Sales, based in New Jersey, voiced its concern to its Chinese business partners as far back as August 2004 because of rising damage claims. FTS officials worried that short-term gains in profit were going to translate into long-term losses in liability, the article stated.

As a result, FTS faces liability in an Aug. 12, 2006 rollover accident in Pennsylvania, which killed two passengers and caused permanent brain damage in a third person. The accident, involving a 2000 Chevrolet Express, was a direct result of the supplier's decision to discontinue placing a gum strip in the tires, a basic and necessary safety feature. FTS knew about it for years. But the company is blaming Hangzhou for the loss of these lives. Meanwhile, FTS's web site is peppered with recall information.

It's unconscionable that even after the Firestone/Ford debacle, faulty tires continue to kill Americans. But the sad reality is that automakers cut corners at the consumer's expense in several ways beyond tires.

For example, it is common knowledge among manufacturers that laminated glass is safer than tempered glass. Tempered glass shatters and causes lacerations while laminated glass holds firm upon a car collision. While laminated glass is used for windshields, tempered glass continues to be primarily used for side, rear and roof windows.

Other examples include SUV rollovers, a common problem caused by top-heavy design and substandard safety testing. Ford has also faced questions over door-latch defects, which causes passengers to be ejected from their vehicles upon impact. A passenger is 30 times more likely to be ejected from a car if a door flies open upon impact, according to an internal Ford memo, as noted in the November 2004 edition of Trial, a product liability publication. Such victims have a slim chance of surviving.

Car safety has come a long way since Ralph Nader's Unsafe at Any Speed was published in 1965. But unfortunately, car manufacturers continue to act as irresponsibly as General Motors did 40 years ago, when the company deemed it cheaper to defend lawsuits than invest in its product with consumer safety in mind.

For more information on this subject, please refer to the section on Defective and Dangerous Products.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Brian Foley

2 Killed In Chain-Reaction Truck Accident On California Interstate

Chrissie Cole — Sat, 13 Oct 2007 20:30:12 GMT

A trucking accident in a Southern California freeway tunnel turned into a fiery, chain-reaction pile up that destroyed over 15 trucks, killed two people and shut down the highway.

On Saturday, highway officials reported ten people injured and one missing. It is unclear at this time if the missing motorist is one of the persons who were killed.

The fire began late Friday when two trucks crashed in the tunnel that stretches over two kilometers. The accident caused a chain-reaction that left wreckage strew about for nearly a kilometer. As crashes continued throughout the tunnel, five big rigs burst into flames and the fire quickly spread to others.

Fire Insp. Jason Hurd told The Associated Press that "Flames were leaping out of both sides of the tunnel 60 and 70 feet (21 metres) high.''

Hurd said that twenty people, including 10 of the injured, were able to escape the flames on foot, but five trucks were still stuck inside the tunnel. Some of the injured suffered minor burns and others received minor to moderate injuries. They were taken to area hospitals.

Hurd added that one truck driver was still missing. He also told AP that cars sometimes use the tunnel and that he fears more people may be trapped inside.

On Saturday, Firefighters worked to remove debris from the tunnel with the hopes that some lanes on Interstate 5 would open by Tuesday. However, fire crews are concerned about the safety of the tunnel and continue to work to clear the debris.

The accident is still under investigation.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Chrissie Cole

Drunk Driver Injures CHP Officer in Car Accident

Chrissie Cole — Wed, 19 Sep 2007 15:04:28 GMT

A California Highway Patrol Officer was injured in a car accident while parked in the center divide of U.S. 101, when a suspected drunken driver struck his patrol car.

The man, 19, was arrested and transported to Santa Clara County Jail on suspicion of felony driving under the influence, causing injury to others and rear-ending the CHP officer's patrol car, on Monday evening. The driver also crashed into another vehicle. The CHP officer and citizen were helping a driver of another vehicle that had a flat tire.

The driver was treated at San Jose Regional Medical Center prior to being taken to jail.

The officer was treated at San Jose Regional Medical Center for a minor concussion and cuts and on his face. At this time his name is not being released and the crash is still under investigation.

For more information on this subject, please visit our section on Car & Motorcycle Accidents.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Chrissie Cole

Toddler Killed by Truck in San Jose

Shannon Weidemann — Tue, 11 Mar 2008 14:18:20 GMT

A 2-year-old boy was killed by a truck backing up in a parking lot last month. The car accident happened in San Jose. The boy's stepfather did not realize the child was behind his vehicle. It is believed the victim left his apartment through an open door.

Nationally, there were at least 101 "backover" children deaths in 2007, according to data Kids And Cars compiles from coroners, individuals and the media. But organization founder and president Janette Fennell said the real number is undoubtedly much larger than that. Each week, according to her organization, cars back up over 50 children in the United States, killing at least two.
"This absolutely fits the mold," Fennell said by phone from Kansas in reference to today's San Jose death. "The father thinks the child is inside, the little one doesn't want to be left behind. And pick-ups have some of the worst blind zones."

The little boy was killed instantly in the accident. On the same day President Bush signed into law a bill that mandates better visibility in vehicles to prevent this kind of accident.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Shannon Weidemann

Silicon Valley Insures 98% of its Children - Why Not All U.S. Children?

Dick Alexander — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 08:28:34 GMT

The wealthiest country in the world fails to fund basic health care for more than 6 million children. The $35 billion bill for the State Children's Health Insurance Program, with its bi-partisan Congressional support, would have covered some 4 million more uninsured children nationwide and an estimated 600,000 California kids, according to media reports.

This should not be a debate about dollars. Yet President Bush, who has spent us into ruinous debt, vetoed SCHIP behind closed doors on the basis of cost, ignoring compelling moral values and overwhelming public support to insure children.

When 45 million uninsured Americans are injured or fall to disease, they suffer without aid. They are not just the unemployed and their families, but people caught in the void: single parents, children who have been rejected by carriers because their conditions are uninsurable, families between jobs and the self-employed who have no access to group policies. A few have some protections: those injured on the job and are covered by workman's compensation. For a handful of people injured outside of work who have valid legal claims, attorneys can secure medical care from a dwindling supply of doctors willing to work and be paid out of a future recovery.

The picture is brighter in Silicon Valley for poor children because of two visionary community organizations, People Acting in Community Together and
Working Partnerships, and brave governmental leaders such as California
Assemblyman Jim Beall and Bob Sillen, former chief of the county health system. Together they are the creators of one of the most revered and successful programs in the nation: Healthy Kids and the Children's Health Initiative of Santa Clara County.

Established in 2001, CHI provides care for those families without health insurance. As a result, 98 percent of the county's children are insured, through private insurance, Medi-Cal and California's Healthy Families, as well as 13,000 kids enrolled in Healthy Kids who don't qualify for coverage under any State plan.

Healthy Kids welcomes all qualified children, regardless of immigration status.
Children whose families earn 300 percent of the Federal Poverty Level, or nearly $62,000, and are not eligible for the state's programs are covered. Healthy Kids provides health, dental and vision coverage with monthly premiums ranging from $4 to $6 per child, up to a maximum of $18 per family.

After six years of success, it is no surprise that Healthy Kids is improving public health. A June 2007 study showed that during the program's first three years, preventive care for these kids grew while the percentage of sick children who visited doctors fell from 33 percent to 25 percent. Multiple visits from sick children fell from 20 to 10 percent.

The proportion of children who missed three or more school days because of illness fell by half, from 11 to 5 percent according to the evaluation conducted by Mathematica Policy Research, UC San Francisco and the Urban Institute. And the proportion of parents reporting their child was in fair or poor health fell after the first year in Healthy Kids from 18 to 12 percent.

Initial funding sources included $3 million in county funds, provided by the Tobacco Settlement Fund. Similarly, the bill vetoed by Mr. Bush would have relied on an increase in federal tobacco taxes of 61 cents per pack.

The president's view is to cut off all coverage to kids in households that are between 200 and 300 percent of the Federal Poverty Level, a move that would force countless children to lose the coverage they have.

This week the House passed the latest version of the bill, after falling 13 votes short of overriding a potential Bush veto. The more House Republicans fail to identify this crisis and acknowledge the overwhelming support among Americans for this program, the more likely they will be voted out. It is a disgrace that this country does not provide for its poor children. Santa Clara County's model has been emulated in other counties in California, and it should be adopted at the federal level. If one county can provide medical care for nearly all children, surely our country can do the same.

Originally posted at InjuryBoard by Dick Alexander