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2006 Sees Enormous Number of Car Safety Recalls

2006 has been a banner year for automobiles, but not in the way that the manufacturers would prefer. An article in Business Week has listed a series of alarming recalls from automakers, including some of their most popular and highest selling models.

In May, Toyota announced a recall of over 1,000,000 cars due to steering defects, and in on July 18th, they announced another which affected over 418,000 cars worldwide. This particular defect is due to faulty engine parts that cause an unusually high consumption of oil, which could cause engine fires.

Toyota seems to be having a run of bad luck over the past two years. In 2005, they had to recall 750,000 pickup trucks, and according to the Business Week article, every single car and truck in their 2006 line has had some form of recall.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration database shows that recalls are occurring in 2006 at an alarming rate.

February of 2006 had over 600,000 recalls from Mercedes, Ford, Chrysler, and Nissan for problems involving brakes, bad seatbelts, gas tanks that could cause fires and electrical surges that could short out the windshield wipers and turn signals.

March of 2006 had over one million combined recalls from Toyota, Nissan, GM, Chrysler, Ford and Nissan for problems involving leaking tires, failing door latches, tailgates on light trucks that fail, windshield wiper motors that fail, rear hatches that fail without warning, and electrical shortages which could cause fires.

April of 2006 had over one million recalls from Mercedes, Toyota, Mazda, GM, Ford, Mazda, Saab, Volvo and Land Rover for problems ranging from bad airbags, electrical systems that short out, bad seatbelts, seats that aren’t properly secured in the vehicle, cruise control that fails, bad brakes, and suspensions that disconnect.

May of 2006 gave us over 400,000 combined recalls from Chrysler, Volvo, Hyundai, GM, VW and Toyota. Among the defects were clutches that fail, brake pads that go bad, steering failures, headlights that suddenly burn out, roof panels that fly off, and brake light signals that suddenly burn out.

June of 2006 had over 350,000 combined recalls from Mitsubishi, Chrysler, Audi, GM, Mercedes, Nissan, and Toyota for defects that included transmissions that could suddenly slip out of park, brake lines that suddenly lose fluid, headlights that short out and could cause fires inside the drivers compartment, cooling fan blades that could separate and become shrapnel, bad seatbelts, potential engine fires due to an excessive consumption of oil, and tires that leak.

While it’s certainly a good thing that the NHTSA and the auto manufacturers are noticing these defects in their cars, the sheer rate of these recalls leads us to question the design standards and quality control of the automobile manufacturers themselves. These are, after all, products that can weigh several tons, can move at 100 miles per hour, and are meant to carry human beings. As products liability attorneys, we have seen the damage that even a small and benign looking product can do if there is a design or manufacturing defect. A defect in an automobile can raise the potential for damage exponentially. And getting into a car accident because of a brake failure or headlight short can mistakenly place the blame of an accident on the drivers themselves.

The attorneys at Breit, Drescher and Improvento have been providing aggressive and thorough legal counsel for victims of product liability and car accident victims for decades. Sorting out the events and responsibilities quickly and efficiently is a crucial element is receiving fair treatment. If you or a loved one has been injured in a car accident, and you suspect a defect was responsible for the event, contact our offices for a free legal consultation.

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