Accident & Injury Law in Texas

Archive for the ‘Cars’ Category

Toyota has for years blocked access to data stored in devices similar to airline “black boxes” that could explain crashes blamed on sudden unintended acceleration, according to an Associated Press review of lawsuits nationwide and interviews with auto crash experts.

The AP investigation found that Toyota has been inconsistent — and sometimes contradictory — in revealing what the devices record and don’t record, including critical data about whether the, brake or accelerator pedals were depressed at the time of a crash.

By contrast, most other automakers routinely allow more open access to information from their event data recorders.

The Associated Press also found that Toyota:

• Has frequently refused to provide key information sought by crash victims and survivors.
• Uses proprietary software in its recorders. Until this week, only a single laptop in the U.S. contained the software needed to read the data after a crash.
• Either settled or provided printouts with the key columns blank, when pressed to provide recorder information in some lawsuits.

Toyota’s “black box” information is emerging as a critical legal issue amid the recall of 8 million vehicles by the world’s largest automaker. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said this week that 52 people have died in crashes linked to accelerator problems, triggering an avalanche of lawsuits.

In addition, the number of post-repair complaints is rising. The government said Thursday that it has received more than 60 complaints from Toyota drivers who say their cars have sped up by themselves even after being fixed to correct the problem.

The highway safety agency said it is contacting every owner to learn more about the consumer reports. The complaints have not been independently verified.

When Toyota was asked by the Associated Press to explain what exactly its recorders collect, a company statement said Thursday that the devices record data from five seconds before until two seconds after an air bag is deployed in a crash.

The statement said information is captured about vehicle speed, the accelerator’s angle, gear shift position, whether the seat belt was used and the angle of the driver’s seat.

There was no initial mention of brakes a key point in the sudden acceleration problem. When the Associated Press went back to Toyota to ask specifically about brake information, Toyota responded that its recorders do record “data on the brake’s position and the antilock brake system.”

But that does not square with information that attorneys obtained in a deadly crash last year in Southlake, which is in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, and in a 2004 wreck in Indiana that killed an elderly woman.

In the Texas crash, where four people died when their 2008 Avalon ripped through a fence, hit a tree and flipped into an icy pond, a recorder readout obtained by police listed as “off” any information on acceleration or braking.

In the Indiana crash, 77-year-old Juanita Grossman told relatives before she died that she was practically standing with both feet on the brake pedal but could not-stop her 2003 Camry from slamming info a building. Records confirm that emergency personnel found Grossman with both feet on the brake pedal.

A Toyota representative told the family’s attorneys there was “no sensor that would have preserved information regarding the accelerator and brake positions at the time of impact,” according to a summary of the case provided by Safety Research & Strategies Inc., a Rehoboth, Mass. based company that does vehicle safety research for attorneys, engineers, government and others.

One attorney in the Texas case contends in court documents that Toyota may have de literately stopped allowing its recorders to collect critical information so the Japanese automaker would not be forced to reveal it in court cases.

“This goes directly to defendants’ notice of the problem and willingness to cover up the, problem,” said E. Todd Tracy, who had been suing automakers for 20 years.

Randy Roberts, an attorney for the driver in that case, said he was surprised at how little information the Avalon’s recorder contained.

“When I found out the Toyota black box was so uninformative, I was shocked,” Roberts said.

Toyota refused to comment on Tracy’s allegations because it is an ongoing legal matter but said the company does share recorder information with government regulators.

“Because the EDR system is an experimental device and is neither intended, nor reliable, for accident reconstruction, Toyota’s policy is to download data only at the direction of law enforcement, NHTSA or a court order,” the Toyota statement said.

In many cases, attorneys and crash experts say recorder data could help explain what happened in the moments before a crash by detailing the positions of the gas and brake pedals as well as the engine’s revolutions per minute.

Yet, some crash experts say Toyota shouldn’t bear too much criticism for failing to capture large amounts or specific kinds of data, because recorder systems were initially built for air bag deployment and not to reconstruct wrecks. They also vary widely from vehicle model to model, Haight said.

A day after Toyota Motor Corp. announced an indefinite suspension of U.S. sales on an unprecedented scale to fix faulty gas pedals, the automaker said late Wednesday that it will recall an additional 1.1 million vehicles in the United States over floor mat problems. Toyota said Thursday’s recall would affect five models: 2008-10 Highlander, 2009-10 Corolla, 2009-10 Venza, 2009-10 Matrix and 2009-10 Pontiac Vibe.

Toyota said late Tuesday that it would halt sales of some of its top-selling models to fix gas pedals that could stick and cause unintended acceleration. Last week, Toyota issued a recall for the same eight models, affecting 2.3 million vehicles.

The suspect accelerator parts are made by a U.S. supplier, but similar parts are also found in its European-made vehicles, an official with the Japanese automaker said Wednesday. Toyota said it hasn’t decided what to do there.

Tuesday’s announcement follows a larger U.S. recall last year of 4.2 million vehicles because of problems with gas pedals becoming trapped under floor mats, causing sudden acceleration.

That problem was the cause of several crashes, including some fatalities.

Toyota has said it was not aware of any accidents or injuries due to the pedal problems associated with last week’s recall. About 1.7 million vehicles fall under both recalls.

Toyota is also suspending production at six North American car-assembly plants beginning next week and gave no date on when production could restart.

The sales and production, halt involves several best-selling U.S. models, including the Camry and Corolla sedans, the Tundra truck and the RAV4 crossover, a blend of an SUV and a car.

Toyota said the sales suspension wouldn’t affect Lexus or Scion vehicles and that the Prius, Tacoma, Sienna, Venza, Solara, Yaris, 4Runner, FJ Cruiser, Land Cruiser and select Camry models, including all Camry hybrids, would remain for sale. Those vehicles contain gas pedals produced by a different North American supplier than the one whose parts are involved in the current sales halt, Toyota has said.

The supplier is CTS Corp., based in Elkhart, Ind., and.he suspect part was manufactured at its plant in Ontario, according to a report Toyota gave the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last week. CTS said Toyota told it  about fewer than a dozen cases in which drivers struggled with pedals.

David Strickland, the administrator of the federal traffic safety agency, said that the Transportation Department had been in regular communication with Toyota about the recall. Strickland said Toyota’s decision to stop selling the vehicles was “an aggressive one and one that is the legal and morally Correct thing to do.” Rental car firms Avis Budget Group and Enterprise Holdings said they were pulling thousands of Toyota models covered by last week’s recall until a fix is available.

Avis Budget said the decision to idle 20,000 Toyotas was a precaution. Enterprise Holdings, which controls the Enterprise, National and Alamo brands, said it would pull an unspecified number of Toyota models from its fleet.

Toyota expects to sell 2.2 million vehicles in North America in 2010, up 11 percent from 2009, according to sales targets released Tuesday. Toyota said it was planning global sales of 8.3 million vehicles this year, up 6 percent from 2009, but those numbers do not account for the U.S. sales stoppage.

Two years ago, Toyota beat out General Motors Co. to become the world’s largest automaker. Now just weeks into 2010, it is halting some sales in the U.S., its biggest market.

Three large pickup trucks that serve as workhorses for construction crews, farmers and small-business owners are not providing good protection from side crashes, according to tests conducted by the insurance industry which struck the side of the vehicles with a barrier moving at 31 miles per hour to imitate the front end of a pickup truck or sports utility vehicle.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety gave low marks to the 2009 versions of the Chevrolet Silverado 1500, Dodge Ram 1500, and Nissan Titan in side crash tests.

The Ram, equipped with standard side air bags, earned the second-lowest score of “marginal.”  The Titan and Silverado received the lowest mark of “poor” when tested without optional side air bags.

When the trucks were tested with the optional safety equipment, the Titan’s rating improved to “marginal,” but the Silverado continued to receive a “poor” rating.  The institute said the Silverado’s test results also applied to its twin, the GMC Sierra 1500.

The institute attributed the Silverado’s low ratings to a combination of a poor side structure and a lack of side torso air bags.  The optional side curtain airbags worked well in protecting motorists’ heads, but a person’s upper body would remain unprotected even with the optional side curtain air bags.

According to David Zuby, the institute’s vice president, “The size, weight and height of these large pickups should help them ace the side tests just like the other large pickups we’ve tested.  Not these three.”  Zuby said that occupants of passenger cars typically are more vulnerable in a side crash because their bodies are in line with the fronts of vehicles.  But, he said, trucks faired poorly even with the higher seating positions.

GM spokeswoman Carolyn Markey said the Silverado and Sierra received top scores in the government’s front- and side-impact tests.

If you were injured in a side crash, regardles of the type of car you were driving, be sure to call our office at (512) 343-2572.

Several states, including California and New York, have introduced laws against talking on a cell phone while driving, but they still allow the use of hands-free devices, such as Bluetooth headsets.  However, studies have shown that hands-free devices may not help.  It appears that it is the distraction of dialing or talking that is dangerous, rather thean the act of taking a hand off the wheel.

A study by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in 2006 found that dialing or talking on the phone was the cause in 7 percent of crashes and near-crashes.  For the study, drivers had onboard “black boxes” that recorded their actions.

Last year, 41,059 people died in traffic accidents.

Aegis Mobility, a Canadian software company, announced this month that it has developed software called DriveAssist that will detect whether a cell phone is moving at car speeds.  When that happens, the software will alert the cellular network, telling it to hold calls and text messages until he drive is over.

The software doesn’t completely block incoming calls.  Callers will hear a message saying the person they’re calling appears to be driving.  They can hit a button to leave an emergency voice mail, which is put through immediately.

Aegis’ software will work on phones with Windows Mobile software or Symbian software (used in phones from Nokia and Ericsson).  It uses the phone’s global positioning system chip to detect motion, aided by the cell-tower signal.  To work, the software has to be supported by the cellular carrier and can be managed remotely through a web site.

Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. said it plans to offer a discount of up to 3 to 10 percent on family policies for people who use DriveAssist.

Scary.  Very Scary.

Tractor trailer and bus drivers in the United States have suffered seizures, hear attacks or unconscious spells behind the wheel that led to deadly crashes on highways.  Hundreds of thousands of drivers carry commercial licenses even though they also qualify for full federal disability payments, according to a new U.S. safety study.

The problems threatening highway travelers persist despite years of government warnings and hundreds of deaths and injuries blamed on commercial truck and bus drivers who blacked out, collapsed or suffered major health problems behind the wheel of vehicles that can weith 40 tons or more!

The Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, the agency responsible for cracking down on unfit truckers, acknowledges that it hasn’t completed any of eight recommendations U.S. safety regulators have proposed since 2001 including minimum standards for officials who determine whether truckers are medically safe to drive and preventing truckers from “doctor shopping” to find a physician who might overlook risky health.

The Transportation Department said 5,300 people died in crashes involving large commercial trucks or buses in 2006 and about 126,000 were injured while truckers violating federal medical rules have been caught in every state.

A federal safety study last summer found that drivers falling asleep, suffering heart attacks or seizures or otherwise being physically impaired were a leading cause of serious crashes involving large trucks.

Scary.  Very Scary.

To reduce the number of drivers without auto insurance, the state of Texas has launched a database that allows law enforcement officials to tell which drivers have insurance and which don’t.

The program, known as TexasSure, began in the Austin area on June 2, and is being tested for about 60 days before it is expected to go statewide.

Texas drivers are required by law to have auto insurance, but one in five is uninsured, according to the Texas Department of Transportation.

Drivers will still be required to carry proof of insurance, but the database was created to counter those who purchase an, insurance policy, get an insurance card and then cancel their policy.

The $7 million program is a joint effort among DPS, the Transportation Department, the Texas Department of Insurance and the insurance industry. It is being financed by vehicle registration fees. TexasSure requires all Texas insurance providers to supply a list of customers with up-to-date policies. The state then matches those policies to a driver’s license number, license plate number and vehicle identification number.

Under current law, drivers pulled over fora traffic violation who are found to be uninsured are ticketed $350 for the first offense, plus fees. Repeat offenders face fines of up to $1,000 and a two-year license suspension.

In the market for a new auto?

Here’s a good car buying tip?

Extended warranties sell costly peace of ming for repair nightmares that probably won’t occur, according to a survey of more than 8,000 readers conducted by the Consumer Reports National Research Center.  Consumer reports has long advised that extended warranties are a poor deal for almost every product.  Here is some of the data published in their April 2008 issue:

• 65% of those surveyed said they spent significantly more for the contract than they got back in repair-cost savings.  The average cost of the warranty was $1,000 with an average benefit of $700 meaning that the average loss was $300.
• 20% said they had a net savings and those were usually for people who bought troublesome cars which scored low on the Consumer Reports reliability ratings.
• Only 38% of buyers said there were highly satisfied with their warranty purchase putting extended warranties near the bottom of dozens of services rated by Consumer Reports.
• 12% of buyers reported trouble getting repairs when they used their extended warranty because of contract terms or disputes with the claim administrator.
• 37% didn’t use their extended service contract to cover repair costs because the problem was covered by the factory warranty.

Extended warranties are not insurance in most states and are not warranties as defined under Federal law.  They are more akin to prepaid repair contracts or extended service contracts.

Since extended warranty pricing is not regulated like insurance, dealers charge what the market will bear and a very small portion of the price you will pay actually goes to repairs after intermediaries (like the dealership) get their cut.

More car buying tips …

Several midsize cars have made improvements in protecting motorists in side crashes because of improvements in design and adding side airbags, the insurance industry reports.

The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety crash test results gave top scores in front-end and side-impact crashes to the 2008 Chevrolet Malibu, Saturn Aura, Dodge Avenger, Nissan Altima, Infiniti G35, and Mitsubishi Galant.  The 2008 Kia Optima received the highest score in front-end tests and the second highest score in the side test.

Frontal crash tests simulate a 40 mph crash and its effect on the driver.  Side crash simulations show what would happen if the vehicle was struck in the side by a sport-utility vehicle at 31 mph.

10 similar vehicles tested in 2004 without side air bags received the lowest rating of “poor” in the side tests.  Only past generations of the Honda Accord, Toyota Camry, and Chevrolet Malibu received the top score in 2004 when they were tested with side air bags.  The air bags were largely optional in 2004 but are standard in all seven of the 2008 vehicles the institute reviewed.

In rear end testing in which a 20 mph crash and its effect on the driver are simulated, the results were mixed. The Optima was the only vehicle tested to receive a top rating, followed by the Avenger, which received the second highest score of “acceptable.”

The G35, Altima, Malibu, and Aura received the second-lowest score of “marginal” while the Galant received the lowest rating of “poor.”

Rear crashes can lead to neck injuries in which there are about 2 million insurance claims a year, costing at least $8.5 billion.

Visit our car buying tips section for more information.

Yesterday I wrote about Electronic Stability Control and how Consumer Reports calls it the greatest safety advance since seat belts.

Last night I read a Wall Street Journal article entitled “Unsafe at Any Speed, With Any Driver, On Any Kind of Road.”  It is a fascinating look back at how lax safety standards used to be.  Every yea, about 42,000 people die in automobile-related accidents in the U.S.  In 1930, when there was only about a tenth of the cars on the road as there are now, more than 31,000 people in the U.S. were killed by cars.  “The automobile is here to slay,” said one newspaper.

Think about this, if 30,000 people a year have died since 1930, how many have died in total since the almost 80 years that have elapsed : 30,000 * 80 = 2.4 million!

Electronic Stability Control (ESC) selectively applies brakes to individual wheels to help keep the vehicle under control when swerving to avoid an accident or cornering on slippery pavement, and it can help a vehicle stay out of a situation that could lead to a rollover.

By model year 2012, the government will require automakers to include ESC on passenger vehicles. If all cars had ESC, some 10,000 lives a year could be saved, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. Current equipped models are involved in 36 percent fewer fatal passenger-car crashes and 63 percent fewer fatal SUV, van, and pickup-truck crashes than vehicles without ESC, federal officials say. Unfortunately, stability control is available mainly on higher-priced vehicles; many small, inexpensive cars don’t offer it.

ESC is so important that Consumer Reports calls it the “single greatest advance in auto safety since the safety belt.” In fact, Consumer Reports, which has been rating cars since 1948, believes ESC is so critical to the safety of all drivers and passengers that they’ve revised their rating system to give it greater weight.