Atlanta Injury Attorneys Blog

Important safety news this week from Toyota as it issues a major recall for one of its most popular trucks. As an Atlanta and Atlanta truck accident lawyer and Atlanta metro area motor vehicle accident lawyer, I want readers of the Atlanta Injury Attorneys Blog to be informed about this recall and to take action if they own one of the recalled trucks.

The recall involves about 51,000 Tundra trucks. The potential problem? The rear drive shafts must be inspected for a component that could break.

Although to date, no truck accidents or injuries have occurred, one slip yoke has failed and there is a risk of catastrophic personal injury with a drive shaft problem in other trucks with parts that were created at the same time as the failed part.

According to Toyota Motor Sales USA Inc., only 0.5 percent of these trucks potentially have the faulty slip yoke. This problem occurred in the casting of the part at the foundry process. The company is aware of one slip yoke failure. There are no reports of accidents or injuries related to the condition at this point.

Toyota is no stranger to potential defects in their vehicles and their handling of recalls in the recent past. From gas pedals that were believed to stick and cause accelleration dangers, to floor mat defects, the company has been inundated with negative press and slammed with a big bill of nearly $50 million from the federal government for the way they handled the recalls. The company has also been named in numerous law suits for these defects and recalls.

Toyota will inspect your Tundra and replace the defective part at no cost to owners. In addition to the problem with the Tundra, a separate recall has been issued for more than 300,000 RAV4 and Highlander vehicles to correct an airbag issue from 2007-2008 model years. Owners should consult the Toyota website or call their local dealer to get their cars inspected.

The Atlanta-Constitution Journal reported last week on an important food recall. The Atlanta Injury Attorneys Blog wants to ensure that our readers are aware of this food recall to keep Georgia and Atlanta residents from personal injury to themselves and their families in using the unsafe food product.

The food recall involves a curry spice that has been sold through Georgia's Target stores as well as those around the country. The nationwide recall is due to the fact that the curry has been found to contain high lead levels.

Lead is particularly dangerous for pregnant women, infants and children, but it is also unhealthy for adults to ingest. This product is not safe and if you have it in your home or suspect you have it in your home, please take it immediately to your local Target store.

Lead is a substance that over time accumulates and can be very harmful in healthy development. That is why it has been taken out of paint products and toys. Lead has also been found in corroding lead pipes in drinking water in cities around the country, but the amount of lead is monitored to ensure public safety. There is some controversy about what is a "safe" level of lead.

Specifically, the Georgia Department of Agriculture notes that the voluntary recall involves a ground turmeric that was sold in glass bottles at Target stores. Since this spice is often used to make curry dishes, it is widely used in various cuisines such as Middle Eastern and South Asian dishes.

The curry product is called "Archer Farms Ground Turmeric" and has a "best buy" date of June 2011 to January 2012 with a UPC code of 0-85239-02612-0. If you or a family member purchased this item, return it to the Target store. For more information on contacting the manufacturer directly please click here.

Road Departure Motorcycle Crash

Earlier this week, the Atlanta Injury Attorneys Blog posted readers on the important new studies being done at Virginia Tech regarding various aspects of what are called road departure crashes. These are crashes in which a motorcyclist or motorist veers off the road and is seriously injured or killed. Very little is actually known about why these accidents happen and the studies should provide some answers.

Tragically, this week an Atlanta-area motorcyclist was killed in a road departure crash while coming out of a curve in unincorporated Auburn. No other vehicle was involved in the crash, which is the case with road departure crashes.

The Gwinnett police have told the Atlanta-Constitution Journal that although they are investigating this crash, they do not believe that either speed or alcohol were factors in the accident. The young man was only 24-years old and he passed away after being taken to Gwinnett Medical Center in Lawrenceville.

Our hearts go out to the family of this young man. This is precisely the type of accident that is being studied at Virginia Tech and it our hope that one day there will be better answers for motorcycle enthusiasts about how and why road departures occur and how to best avoid them.

All Terrain Vehicle Move Ends in Tragic Accident

In another terrible tragedy, we have learned that earlier this month, a Cornelia Municipal Court judge was killed while moving his all-terrain vehicle. This occurred while he was simply backing the ATV up to move it and the vehicle accelerated suddenly with no warning and for no apparent reason.

We are saddened to learn of this accident and express our deepest sorrow to the family. The cause of the accident is not yet known.

We do know that the judge was apparently thrown from the ATV and when it hit an embankment, he was trapped under the vehicle after it fell on top of him. A neighbor came to his assistance and was able to pull the ATV off of him, but he was pronounced dead at the Northeast Georgia Medical Center in Gainesville after he was transported there.

In a somber reminder of the heightened danger of driving in the rain, an entire Gwinnett County family was killed in a South Carolina wreck last Thursday. The accident happened with the Alvarez family's SUV hydroplaned and flipped over into a canal by the side of the highway 145 miles east of Raleigh.

It is known that SUVs are particularly prone to flipping or rolling over when they lose equilibrium. And it is difficult to say whether the accident could have been avoided if they had been driving in a different type of vehicle, or driving a bit more slowly. However, it is critical to remember that this family should absolutely not be held to blame for their choice of an SUV as the family vehicle. Car and truck companies have an unspoken covenant with consumers to only put products on the market that are safe and stable. When this covenant is breached--and sadly, it is far too often--the company responsible must be challenged.

I believe SUV manufacturers have a duty to construct their vehicles in a way that puts the safety of drivers and passengers above all else. It is possible that there was a defect in the SUV that contributed to its propensity to flip over. It also is possible that due to the road conditions there was no other possible outcome than the death of this family, but when automobile makers are honest with consumers and do the utmost to construct their vehicles responsibly, we all benefit. Conversely, when they are dishonest or overlook safety measures, traumatic brain injury, spinal cord injury, or death can be the result.

It's the middle of summer in Georgia--and as we all know, summer in Georgia means fires. In the past week alone, several fires were reported in Gwinnett County, and I'm sorry to say that more than one of them caused enough damage to leave dozens of families temporarily homeless. Here's a rundown:

Yesterday afternoon there were three very different fires in Gwinnett County. The first was in Lawrenceville, where a knocked-down tree had apparently pulled down a power line sparking a fire. The second fire was at a Norcross apartment building. Four units were damaged, 25 residents were forced to seek temporary housing, and one was taken to Gwinnett Medical Center-Duluth for minor symptoms of smoke inhalation. The last call was for a vehicle fire in Suwanee; unfortunately the car was too far gone to be saved. Collateral also damage occurred in the form of damage to the garage it was parked at and blistered paint to a nearby vehicle.

And Thursday was only the beginning.

As a Georgia defective product attorney, I was pleased to see an announcement Oct. 5 of the largest U.S. recall in Toyota Motor Corp.'s history. According to an Oct. 5 article by the Associated Press, Toyota is recalling 3.8 million vehicles because they have floor mats that, if not properly secured, may cause the gas pedal to stick, leading to uncontrollable speed that can cause a deadly crash. Drivers of the affected vehicles are being asked to remove the driver's side floor mats and wait for Toyota to call them in for a more permanent solution, still in development. More information is available from Toyota's press release, or consumers may call the federal National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's hotline at 1-888-372-4236.

The vehicles affected by the recall include:

• 2007 - 2010 Toyota Camry
• 2005 - 2010 Toyota Avalon
• 2004 - 2009 Toyota Prius
• 2005 - 2010 Toyota Tacoma
• 2007 - 2010 Toyota Tundra
• 2007 - 2010 Lexus ES350
• 2006 - 2010 Lexus IS250 and IS350

Unfortunately, the recall was prompted by a deadly accident that took place in San Diego in August. California Highway Patrol officer Mark Saylor and three members of his family died when the pedal became stuck on their Lexus ES350. People inside the vehicle called 911 for help, but couldn't stop the vehicle before it reached a speed of 120 mph. They hit another vehicle, then fell from an embankment and rolled several times before bursting into flames. Toyota's press release included instructions for drivers in this situation to pull away the mat, brake, shift into neutral or turn off the engine.

As a Metro Atlanta product liability lawyer, I'm impressed that Toyota has taken what seems like reasonably quick action on this problem. In the past, manufacturers have not always been quick to order a recall, even when the safety problems were real and undeniable. You may remember the Bridgestone/Firestone tire recalls of 2000, which primarily affected Ford vehicles. The tires were unreasonably likely to fall apart (tire tread separation), particularly at high speeds, due to a manufacturing problem. In that recall, safety advocates claimed that Firestone undertook a "documented coverup" of problems that reached back into the mid-1990s or earlier. This claim is controversial, of course, but if there was a delay, it undoubtedly helped raise the death toll to an estimated 40 to 120 -- far more than the four deaths documented so far in the Toyota recall.