March 17, 2023
A state court jury has awarded $9.7 million in damages to the family of Jose Chicas, a New Mexico man who died under the wheels of a rollaway 2015 BMW X5 nearly five years ago. The December 14 verdict came after an 11-day trial, in which the jury recognized that BMW was aware of the […]
February 15, 2023
Fourteen crashes, eight deaths, uninsurable vehicles and auto theft numbers through the roof – that’s the mayhem trailing traditionally keyed, unprotected Hyundai-Kias that appear to violate Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 114 Theft Protection and Rollaway Prevention. But press releases from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the automaker describe the rollout of a […]
September 27, 2022
It’s been four years since the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration published an analysis of Non-Traffic Surveillance Data, which includes an estimate of the annual toll of rollaway injury and deaths. But the newest numbers are out, and despite some wonky data – blamed on the pandemic – rollaway is pretty much the same threat […]
September 9, 2022
It took an act of Congress, but within the next 18 months, NHTSA is supposed to promulgate a new law compelling manufacturers to implement an automatic engine idle shutdown for keyless ignition vehicles. In two months, NHTSA is supposed to submit a report on anti-rollaway technology to Congress. In the meantime, some manufacturers have already […]
July 29, 2022
Neil Black, Tom Mueller On February 25, Ken Rothfield was backing down his driveway at about 7:30 a.m., and noticed that there was barely enough room to ease his vehicle between the brick wall jutting out to his left, and his wife’s Toyota on the right. He pulled a bit forward of the wall, with […]
January 19, 2022
Sharon Beaty’s lawsuit resulted in a jury verdict that not only awarded her damages, but caused one of the U.S.’s most well-known restaurant corporations to opt for safer cooking practices. On March 26, 2018, Sharon Beaty of Florence, South Carolina pulled the leftovers from her Outback Steakhouse dinner out of the fridge for lunch. She […]
January 10, 2022
Editor’s Note: This blog has been updated to reflect the software update recall initiated by Mercedes-Benz and posted by NHTSA on Jan. 10, 2022. In August, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) opened a rollaway investigation into the Mercedes Sprinter vans with e-shifters that automatically move the transmission into Park when the driver leaves […]
June 22, 2021
Two and a half years ago, U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission staff approached the triad of off-road vehicle trade groups – the Specialty Vehicle Institute of America (SVIA), the Off-Highway Recreational Vehicle Association (ROHVA), and the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute (OPEI) – with some data and an offer: Write a voluntary standard to address fire […]
May 18, 2021
A federal judge in California has put one class-action lawsuit in peril and approved a settlement in another alleging defects in Hyundai and Kia engines. The Korean automaker’s billion-dollar-plus legal liability is on top of the largest civil penalty the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has ever levied against an automaker. The language of the […]
September 23, 2020
Last Wednesday, a trio from the House Energy and Commerce Committee, including its powerful chair Frank Pallone Jr. (D-NJ) asked the Government Accountability Office (GAO) to find out why the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has dragged its feet in completing nearly 20 Congressionally mandated rulemakings and reports in the last seven years. The 2012 […]