Posted in Car Accident,Personal Injury on December 18, 2014
Detroit-Based Automaker Chrysler Issues Recall for 208,000 Vehicles
Chrysler Group LLC, one of the largest U.S.-based automakers, announced it is recalling an additional 208,783 vehicles equipped with air bags produced by Takata Corp. This puts the total number of vehicles recalled by the company at about 617,000 since the process began in June of this year.
According to The Detroit News, Chrysler is one of 10 major automakers that have issued recalls for vehicles that shipped with air bags manufactured by Takata Corp. The air bags were recalled due to reports that inflators can explode during collisions and send metal shrapnel toward drivers and passengers.
The report goes on to state that four people have died and 46 more were injured in the United States due to the faulty air bags. The recall affects vehicles including the Dodge Ram 1500 pickup truck, Dodge Durango SUV, Chrysler 300 sedan, and Dodge Magnum.
The recall initially affected vehicles in Florida, Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands but later expanded to include vehicles sold in Alabama, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas, and other U.S. territories.
At Matt Hardin Law, our Nashville car accident attorneys believe that Chrysler made the right decision by recalling its vehicles that could be dangerous for drivers and passengers in the event of an accident. We believe that car manufacturers have a responsibility to their customers to provide safe vehicles with properly functioning safety features.
What are Common Car Manufacturer Recalls?
Negligent drivers aren’t the only parties that can be held responsible for causing car accidents. Car manufacturers can also sometimes be considered liable if they released vehicles that contained flaws or malfunctioning components that created safety hazards for drivers and passengers. That’s why car manufacturers often recall vehicles with defective components to prevent further accidents or injuries.
Some of the most common vehicle recalls include:
Gas and brake pedals can sometimes stick and cause vehicles to either accelerate or fail to slow down or stop. Toyota recalled millions of vehicles from 2009 through 2011 due to faulty gas pedals that sometimes became stuck, causing the car to accelerate rapidly and be difficult to stop. This led to several accidents and injuries to drivers and passengers of these recalled vehicles throughout the United States, Europe, and China.
General Motors recently recalled more than 1.3 million vehicles in the U.S. due to a failure in power steering columns that could cause vehicles to experience a sudden loss of power steering. Although the vehicles are designed to immediately alert drivers if the power steering fails, it could cause the vehicles to become difficult to control and steer at low speeds.
General Motors also recently recalled nearly 500,000 vehicles due to faulty transmissions. Vehicles with defective transmissions may behave erratically and either be difficult to start or accelerate—which can be dangerous, especially in heavy traffic that requires drivers to maintain their speed.
Ford Motor Company recalled nearly 3 million vehicles equipped with Firestone tires in early 2000 after it was found the tires were prone to tread separation and failure, and that the defects also contributed to SUVs rolling over at certain speeds.
The Nashville car accident attorneys at Matt Hardin Law know that auto manufacturers put their vehicles through rigorous testing to discover and correct any flaws during the manufacturing process, but some problems slip under the radar and aren’t detected until the vehicles are in the hands of consumers like you.
If you or someone you love was injured in a car accident caused by another person or party’s negligence, we want to help you. Contact our attorneys by dialing (615) 200-1111 or fill out a free online form. We’ve helped countless auto accident victims in the past—now let us put our experience to work for you.
