The defective nailers were manufactured in Japan and sold at large retail outlets such as Lowe's and Home Depot as well as online at Amazon.com. They were sold between November 2002 and March 2006 for between $350 and $400. Those who own or use one of these nailers are asked to immediately stop using them and contact Hitachi Koki U.S.A for a free repair.

Nail gun injuries have been increasing at an alarming rate over the last five years. In some cases, defective nail guns have been responsible for catastrophic injuries or even death. According to a recent investigation by the Sacramento Bee newspaper, 42,000 people – more than 100 a day – show up at U.S. hospital emergency departments annually with nail gun injuries. Treating these injuries reportedly costs the United States at least $338 million a year in emergency medical care, rehabilitation and workers compensation, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). California companies reported 1,890 nail gun injuries leading to missed work days from 2003 to 2006, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Products Liability Issues

Manufacturers of defective and dangerous products should be held responsible for their actions. They have a responsibility to consumers. They cannot and should not take public safety for granted. If you have been injured as a result of these or other defective products, please contact an experienced California personal injury lawyer, who will help you pursue your legal rights. If you have been seriously injured, you can seek compensation to cover medical expenses, loss of wages, lost future earnings or ability to make a living, loss of life's enjoyment and other related damages.

A CHP officer who responded to the call drove alongside Sikes and told him over a loudspeaker to push the brake pedal to the floor and apply the emergency brake. The car then decelerated to 50 mph. Sikes turned off the engine and brought the vehicle to a stop. Toyota has sent a field technical specialist to investigate this incident.

The Japanese auto maker has so far recalled more than 8.5 million vehicles for sudden acceleration problems in multiple models and braking issues in the Prius. Hundreds of Toyota owners have complained about sudden and unintended acceleration problems in their vehicles. So far, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has received complaints of 34 deaths linked to Toyota sudden acceleration issues since the year 2000. One of those accidents claimed the life of CHP officer Mark Saylor and three members of his family when his loaner Lexus accelerated to about a speed of 120 mph before crashing. Sikes' Prius is apparently not on the list of recalled Toyota vehicles.

Auto Product Liability Issues

This story is indeed a cause for tremendous concern. This shows that not all the defective vehicles have been recalled by Toyota. How many more Toyotas are out there that can go out of control any time? How do Toyota owners determine whether their vehicles are safe to drive? This incident shows that if you are a Toyota owner, you may not be safe even if your vehicle is not on the recall list!

If you have been a victim of a defective Toyota, please contact a nationally renowned personal injury law firm that has successfully represented injured clients in auto products liability cases against large auto makers such as Toyota, Ford, Nissan and General Motors. If you are a victim who has suffered catastrophic injuries or if you have lost a loved one as a result of a defective vehicle, you could seek compensation from the auto maker for personal injuries or wrongful death. The best personal injury law firms will always offer a free and comprehensive consultation to injured victims and their families.

Possible causes of SUA are said to be floor mats and floor mat arrangement on the driver's side, the pedal mechanism, the pedal placement or a combination of these problems.

Complaint data has shown that replacing a sticking pedal or floor mat does not fix the problem because drivers have found SUA to occur even when the car is idle, when their foot is on the brake, when there is no accessory floor mat and when the driver is keeping a steady speed on the highway.

Many recalls have happened over the last five years, initially correcting sticky accelerator pedals in the Lexus IS251, replacing all-weather floor mats for some 2007 and 2008 Lexus models, and more recently, shortening accelerator pedals and installing a break override feature in some models.

The auto defect is of great concern and is still requiring serious investigation by Toyota and Lexus. Some car experts have speculated SUA to stem from an electrical issue, rather than the mechanical issues the automakers have been focusing on, though Toyota claims that their electrical systems are infallible.

Read more here: Toyota Sudden Unintended Acceleration.

Christopher suffered serious and traumatic brain injuries. He lingered on severely impaired and in damaged health for approximately 14 months. On November 8, 2009 Christopher passed away due to hypostatic bronchopneumonia and persistent vegetative state from traumatic brain injury

In this case, the 1998 Ford Ranger's tire defect caused the unfortunate rollover accident. Ford Motor Company and the tire manufacturer are both liable in this wrongful death claim. My heart goes out to the friends and family of Christopher Wilson. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers.

Ford Motor Company and Stockton Hill Tire breached its duty of care by negligently designing, manufacturing, assembling, packaging, testing and/or inspecting the vehicle and each of its pertinent component parts. Ford’s engineers have known for some time that the most important characteristic in maintaining control and reducing the likelihood an SUV or truck will rollover is understeer. If a vehicle experiences oversteer the vehicle many times loses control as the back of the car comes forward and the resulting side forces (“lateral acceleration”) cause the vehicle to rollover.

This design defect is further encouraged by another defect experienced by a number of Ford models referred to as "Skate." According to Ford Skate is the "loss of rear-end directional control." This loss of rear-end directional control, or skate, can be caused by any sort of excitation on the suspension, such as a pot hole or rough road.

American Pacific Industries, Inc. -- the owner of Stockton Hill Tire -- was aware of a design and manufacturing defects in tires similar to the tire mentioned here. In fact, American Pacific Industries, Inc. issued a recall for similar tires and implemented design and manufacturing changes in some of their sizes and models. In disregard for public safety the tire company decided not to recall all relevant tires and knowingly exposed consumers to unreasonable risk of injury or death.

By misleading the public American Pacific Industry, Inc. increased profits at the expense of human safety. The company failed to disclose the high risk of tread separation which could lead to loss of control in vehicles. This information would have been unfavorable to the company and might have resulted in consumers purchasing other tires.

It is important to hold American Pacific Industry, Inc. and Ford Motor Company accountable for their negligence. Because of the design defects mentioned above Christopher is no longer with us. He will be missed by his family and friends. Please keep him in your thoughts and prayers as Darla Weaver and her wrongful death attorneys at BISNAR | CHASE seek justice for the wrongdoings these corporations have caused.

Nissan claims that so far no car accidents or injuries have been reported as a result of these defects. Nissan has also blamed the problem on a manufacturing defect by a parts supplier. Dealers will inspect the vehicles for loose pins and repair them if necessary. If you have a loose brake pedal in your Nissan truck, SUV or minivan, please contact a dealer immediately to get it fixed. The Japanese auto maker is also recalling 419,000 vehicles in the United States for faulty gas gauges that can show fuel left in the tank when it is actually empty.

Dangerous Defects

Brake defects in vehicles are extremely serious. We count on our brakes to help our vehicles come to a stop when we need to avoid a collision. There are times when we need to come to a sudden stop, for example, when a vehicle ahead stops suddenly. As drivers, we all know that happens more often than we like. With reduced braking force or a brake that fails, these types of collisions cannot be avoided. These may also be collisions that cause serious personal injuries or in some cases even death.

We have recently seen a sudden surge in vehicle defect recalls starting with the Toyota recalls. So far, the Japanese auto maker has recalled more than 8.5 million vehicles for sticky gas pedals, faulty floor mats and brake defects. A number of auto makers including Honda, Chrysler, GM and Nissan are following in the foot steps of Toyota. There is no question that manufacturers of defective products must be held accountable for what they put in the market. In the end, it is the consumer who pays a hefty price.

San Diego Car Accidents

According to CHP's 2008 traffic accident statistics, car accidents claimed 81 lives and caused 6,123 injuries in the city of San Diego. Countywide, 246 deaths and 13,527 injuries were reported as a result of car accidents during the same year.

What Caused the Accident?

Based on this news report, there are more questions than answers here. The main question, however, is how and why Epstein lost control of his Toyota sedan. Was there a mechanical malfunction or a vehicle defect in the Toyota sedan? At least 8.5 million Toyota vehicles have been recalled over the last several months for sudden acceleration problems. Did Epstein suffer a medical condition while he was driving? Was there a dangerous condition on the road that caused Epstein to lose control? Was another vehicle involved in the accident? I trust the answers to these and other questions will help shed some light on exactly what happened here.

Liability Issues

In such cases, it is a good idea to preserve the crashed vehicle in its current condition so it can be carefully examined by an expert for evidence of auto product defects or malfunctions. If Epstein is determined to have been at fault for the accident, then the truck driver, in addition to claiming workers compensation benefits, can also file a claim against Epstein's estate and his insurance company. An experienced San Diego personal injury lawyer will be able to advise car accident victims and their families about their legal rights and options.

The BISNAR|CHASE personal injury law firm is not representing any of the parties mentioned in this article at the time the article was posted. Our information source is cited in the article. If you were involved in this incident or a similar incident and have questions as to your rights and options, call us or another reputable law firm. Do not act solely upon the information provided herein. Get a consultation. The best law firms will provide a free consultation. We provide a free, confidential consultation to not at fault persons named in this article. The free consultation offer extends to family members as well.

AP reporters also learned that Toyota has often declined to provide key information requested by crash victims and survivors. Also, they used proprietary software in their EDRs. There was only one laptop in the United States that had the software needed to read the data after a car crash. When forced to provide such information in some lawsuits, Toyota either settled or gave out printouts with vital information still missing. This is interesting considering that almost all automakers other than Toyota routinely allow a lot more free and open access to information from their EDRs.

When AP reporters asked Toyota to explain what its EDRs collect, company officials explained to them that the devices record data from five seconds before until two seconds after an airbag is deployed in a car accident. The statement mentioned several details captured by the recorder but failed to mention brakes, an important point in the sudden acceleration problem. However, when they were asked specifically, Toyota admitted that the EDRs do record data on the brake's position and the antilock brake system. Still information on acceleration or braking was not made available to attorneys and experts seeking that information on behalf of injured crash victims or their families.

Sudden Acceleration Deaths and Injuries

The EDR data issue is gaining in significance in the middle of an unprecedented recall of 8.5 million vehicles by Toyota. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) states that so far 52 people have died in crashes linked to sudden acceleration in Toyotas, spurring numerous auto product liability lawsuits nationwide.

What does Toyota have to say in response to having stonewalled victims and their families? What about those who have suffered catastrophic injuries and tried to find out why they got injured? What about those drivers who are in jail because their car accelerated out of control and killed someone? The company released a statement saying that the EDR is an "experimental device" and is not a reliable source for car accident reconstruction. They also say that they have a policy to download data only "at the direction of law enforcement, NHTSA or a court order."

Why Was Toyota's Policy Different?

As a national products liability law firm
BISNAR | CHASE has represented numerous car accident victims against large auto makers such as Toyota, Ford, General Motors and Nissan. In almost all other cases against other auto makers, our accident reconstruction experts can download the EDR. We are always allowed to do so and we are even provided the "decoding manual" to be in a position to read the data that was downloaded.

No one has the access to the technology to do this with Toyota. I have never been provided the decoding manual for a Toyota case. If you want to download Toyota's EDRs, you have to let them do it, let them interpret and hope that the information you get is accurate. Why did Toyota have a policy that was different from all other auto makers? Was it because they had something to hide? Or was it simply an internal policy that they strictly adhered to?

I hope federal officials who are investigating the timeliness of Toyota's recalls or looking into how much the company knew about these sudden acceleration issues are also investigating this matter.

Some Corolla drivers have reported that they are having difficulties keeping the vehicle straight especially at higher speeds. Some have reported "having to fight the wheel" to keep the car from wandering the lanes. A 71-year-old farmer from Oklahoma said he noticed the problems with his 2009 Corolla steering when he drove the new car home after buying it. Several repairs at the dealership did not fix the steering trouble, he said. Many consumers said they fear getting into a serious car accident as a result of these steering problems.

Feds Open Investigation into Steering Defects

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has also opened an investigation into these auto product defects involving about 500,000 vehicles. Toyota has been in serious trouble with these quality control issues for the last several months. So far, the auto maker has recalled more than 8.5 million vehicles for sticky gas pedals and faulty floor mats for sudden and unintended acceleration problems. 2010 model Toyota Prius vehicles were also recalled for brake problems.

Auto Product Liability Issues

There is no question that steering defects are extremely serious. Can you imagine losing steering control while traveling at speeds of over 65 or 70 mph? How many car accidents have already been caused as a result of these steering defects and how many drivers didn't even know that caused their accident?

The California personal injury law firm of BISNAR | CHASE is currently representing a number of injured victims who have just now realized that their accidents were caused by sticky gas pedals or faulty floor mats or sudden acceleration. What don't we still know? I'm guessing -- a lot more. I'm sure we will hear about more quality control issues and product defect issues associated with Toyota vehicles over the next several months. This is not a problem that seems to have developed overnight for Toyota. On the other hand, it is a systematic cover-up on the part of Toyota officials that has gone on for way too long.

In July of 2006, Andrea was driving her 2003 Suzuki Grand Vitara east on Highway 16 in the Hamlet of Wildwood, Alberta, Canada, according to court records. Allegedly due to defects, Andrea lost control of her vehicle which tumbled down a steep embankment and rolled-over numerous times. The Grand Vitara's A and B pillars and roof rails collapsed, causing Andrea's otherwise properly buckled seatbelt system to slacken and eject her from the vehicle. Due to the severe injuries she sustained in the crash, Andrea died on the scene and her daughters, Nichelle and Makayla, who were passengers at the time, also suffered severe permanent injury.

Suzuki Knew of the Grand Vitara's Safety Problems

In 1970, Ford researcher, Roger P. Daniel, published a paper recommending alternative car framework and glass parts to car manufacturers in order to better serve the safety of drivers. Mr. Daniel's report was corroborated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) who followed with six separate reports discussing vehicle design modifications that would prevent ejection of drivers and passengers. These reports stated that use of a metal framework with laminated glass or ejection resistant glazing will provide a considerably better restraining system.

Since the information provided by Daniel's report and NHTSA was released decades ago, the lawsuit claims that the defendants must have been aware that their vehicles were deficient in roll stability during vehicle upright cornering and handling and that in the case of a roll-over crash, their vehicle would not protect against ejection that could lead to serious fatal injuries. The lawsuit further claims that the defendants knew that the Grand Vitara's A and B pillars/windshield headers and roof rails were not structurally sound enough to withstand even the smallest roof crushing force without injuring occupants.

The suit alleges that the defendants chose not to improve their vehicle's safety problems, and performed no testing to see how their Grand Vitara's seatbelt would perform in a rollover crash. One example is the FMVSS 208 dolly rollover test which, had it been executed, might have exposed the seatbelt retractor defect that failed to lock and restrain Andrea during the accident that lead to her death.

Trial will be held in the Superior Court of California, County of Orange, case # 00109180. Economic damages for wrongful death, personal injuries, suffering, medical expenses, loss of earnings and earning capacity, and loss of consortium on behalf of Andrea's family, are among the compensation sought by the lawsuit.

You can find more information about this case at Trial Date Set for California Auto Defects Lawyers Products Liability Wrongful Death Lawsuit Against Suzuki
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