Yes, the media and auto makers will tout and spout about all the great and grand safety features, gas mileage, and dependability. They all win awards for crash test safety and “car of the year.”

Yet, each week the news carries a quiet undercurrent of vehicles being recalled. On average, the typical NEW vehicle has 132 things wrong with it as it sits on the showroom floor. The very best rated cars will have a minimum of 85 things wrong with them. Still, this news and notices of recall are constant and constantly underplayed and hidden by the media and auto makers themselves.

Therefore, as a public service, this firm will endeavor to present a weekly, updated list of recalls…from that particular week. We invite you to take a look. You may wish to contact us if you find yourself in an car accident that is caused by one of these auto defects.

Second Week in February –2012

Recall: 2012 Subaru Legacy and Outback Side Airbag Modules

Subaru is recalling certain 2012 Subaru Legacy and Outback models due to side curtain airbags with an incorrect mixture of propellant, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA).

The incorrect propellant mixture may not be sufficient enough for the initiator component to expel the compressed gas preventing the side curtain airbags from deploying on certain 2012 Subaru Legacy and Outback models. Without proper inflation of the side curtain airbags on the affected 2012 Subaru Legacy and Outback models, risk of injury for occupants during a side impact could increase.

The Fix: Subaru will begin notifying owners of 2012 Subaru Legacy and Outback models as well as dealers around the end of March or the beginning of April. Dealers will replace one or both side curtain airbag modules for free. Concerned owners can also contact Subaru at 1-800-782-2783.

No reported deaths or injuries have been linked to the recall.

Source: National Highway Traffic Safety Administration

Air bag injury victim issues warning about recalls

There is now evidence that a controversial recall covering 2.5 million cars may not go far enough.

Honda Motor Corporation’s recall of defective air bags is the subject. The air bags can explode with deadly force. They’ve killed a teenager in Oklahoma and a mom in Virginia. Each suffered injuries similar to those of a Georgia woman, who somehow survived.

Kristy Williams received a potentially fatal neck wound. A hole in the deployed air bag from her 2001 Honda Civic marks the spot where a jagged chunk of metal went through the bag and severed her carotid artery.

The same thing happened to 18-year-old Ashley Parham of Oklahoma and 35-year-old Guddi Rathore of Virginia.

Their medical reports indicate the women were slashed in the neck in the same spot. All three women drove 2001 Hondas, but only Williams survived.

Honda’s first air bag recall came in November 2008.  It covered less than 4,000 cars.

Honda says they have since expanded the recall four times to 2.5 million vehicles based on updates from the company’s air bag supplier.

“No, there was no accident at all. Just me at a red light, stopped,” Williams said.

Records revealed over the last 10 model years, regulators received 127 complaints about popular Honda and Acura models whose air bags went off with no crash.

Honda hit with broken window lawsuit

Honda and California just aren’t getting along these days.

Weeks after being sued in L.A.’s small claims court, the automaker has been hit with a class-action lawsuit out of the Golden State.

The lawsuit seeks reimbursement on behalf of owners of the 1994 thru 2007 Honda Odyssey, Pilot, Element, Accord, CR-V, Civic and Acura MDX for repairs to allegedly defective window mechanisms.

The plaintiff alleges that the windows in these vehicles can break, drop into the door frame or get stuck open without warning, and pose a safety hazard.

The lawyers filing the suit explain the defect lies in the pieces of plastic that fix the cables in the window regulators in place and keep them from moving when the window motor applies tension.

The plastic is weak, and breaks under normal operating loads; when replaced with a similar part are liable to break again. They say Honda should reimburse owners for these repeat repairs and offer them a permanent solution to the problem.

Chrysler recalls 9,688 Dodge Charger police vehicles

Chrysler is recalling 9,688 Dodge Charger police vehicles to change and relocate the ABS/ESC fuse and replace the headlamp jumper harness.

The safety recall affects Dodge Charger models produced between July 5, 2010, and December 20, 2011.

Chrysler Group announced the recall of 9,688 Dodge Charger police vehicles built between 2011 and 2012, to change and relocate the ABS/ESC fuse and replace the headlamp jumper harness.

Some police vehicles were built with front headlamps that could experience a loss of low-beam operation as a result of an overheated bulb harness connector. Other vehicles may experience a loss of ABS/ESC as a result of an overheated power distribution module, Chrysler Group said in a press release.

According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Web site, “this could lead to loss of visibility and/or braking ability, increasing the risk of crash.”

Automakers urge Senate to reject increased fines for recalls

Automakers want Congress to reject a proposal that would hike fines to $250 million for failing to recall vehicles properly, up from about $17 million.

For more than a year, proponents have pushed Congress to strengthen auto safety measures in the wake of sudden acceleration concerns in Toyota Motor Corp. vehicles.

A coalition of groups — including the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, Association of Global Automakers, National Association of Manufacturers and American International Automobile Dealers Association — urged the Senate to reject hiking the recall fines.

“The proposed increases are so out of proportion either to the current penalty structure or the penalty structure for other manufacturers under the Consumer Product Safety Act as to appear unfairly punitive,” the groups said in a joint letter to the Senate’s top two leaders, Harry Reid, D-Nev., and Mitch McConnell, R-Ky. “The proposed increases should be scaled back to a more appropriate level.”

The auto alliance includes General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co., Chrysler Group LLC, Toyota and eight others.

Automakers have questioned the need for new auto safety measures. They note that in 2010, the number of road deaths fell to its lowest number since 1949 — less than 33,000.

Feds investigate door fires in 2007 Camrys, RAV-4s

Federal safety regulators are investigating reports of fires in the driver’s side doors of 2007 Toyota Camry sedans and RAV-4 crossover SUVs.

The probe could affect as many as 830,000 vehicles, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said Friday in documents posted on its website. The vehicles have not been recalled.

The fires appear to start in the power window switch on the door. Six fires have been reported to the agency, but NHTSA has no reports of anyone being hurt. The agency said it started the investigation on Monday.

Toyota Scion Defective Door Handle Class Action Lawsuit

A federal class action lawsuit claims that 2005 to 2011 Toyota Scion xB and tC models are plagued with a design defect that causes their rear hatch door handles and panels to break off during normal use. Toyota has allegedly known about the Scion’s defective door handle since 2007, but has failed to disclose it to customers and refuses to recall the vehicles to repair the defect, the class action lawsuit says.

The Scion class action lawsuit says that when the defective door handles break, “consumers have been, and will continue to be, forced to deal with an unsafe and illegal situation. First, when the Defective Door Handle breaks, consumers are regularly unable to open their back door, either from the outside or the inside… In addition, the holes left in the rear hatch when the handle breaks allow exhaust fumes to enter into the Vehicle, further creating a safety hazard.”

The Scion class action lawsuit goes on to say that Toyota’s refusal to remedy the problem has forced many consumers to tape or glue the defective Scion door handles bank on their vehicles or purchase expensive replacement parts.

Nissan issues safety recall on 39,000 Versa cars

Nissan is recalling 39,000 Versa cars because the cars can be shifted out of park without depressing the brake pedal.

The 2012 Nissan Versas being recalled were made from June 9, 2011, through Jan. 13, 2012, and sold in the U.S. and Canada. Nissan announced it is recalling 39,000 Versas due to a possible safety hazard on the automatic and continuously variable transmission cars.

According to the the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration Web site, the cars can be shifted out of park without depressing the brake pedal. Nissan will replace the shifter knob free of charge. Owners need to make an appointment at a Nissan-authorized dealer to fix the problem. Although there have been no crashes or injuries reported, federal safety regulations require that the brake must be applied before a car can be shifted into gear.

Rental Car Roulette: Will Car Rental Companies Stop Renting Recalled Vehicles?

Under current law, rental car companies like Hertz, Enterprise, Avis, Budget, etc. can rent you a vehicle that has been recalled for a safety defect… and you might never even know it. A NHTSA study last year showed that Enterprise repaired only 65% of recalled vehicles within 90 days. Avis/Budget repaired only 53% of recalled vehicles within 90 days. Hertz was even worse, with only 34% of recalled vehicles repaired within 90 days.

Though mostly unknown to rental car customers, this problem is massive. Just two rental car companies – Hertz and Enterprise – had nearly 184,000 vehicles recalled last year. In 2010, those same companies had 350,000 vehicles under recall (many of them subject to Toyota’s sudden acceleration recall).

The public outcry over the practice of renting vehicles under a safety recall stems from a tragic crash in 2004 that killed two sisters, Rachel and Jacquie Houck, on Highway 101 in California. I featured the Houck family as part of my Faces of Lawsuit Abuse series detailing the despicable lengths Enterprise Rent-A-Car went in defending an indefensible case.

Rachel and Jacquie were rented a defective PT Cruiser by Enterprise. Enterprise knew about the defect, but chose to rent the vehicle out at least 3 times without repairing the defect. As Rachel and Jacquie drove down Highway 101, the defective PT Cruiser caught fire in the engine compartment. The vehicle filled with smoke. The girls could not see. They could not steer the vehicle. The car swerved across the median strip and the car was hit by an oncoming truck. Both girls were killed.

This would seem to be an “open and shut” case. The PT Cruiser was defective — it had been recalled because of a safety defect that could cause engine fires. Enterprise knew about the defect, but rented the car to the unsuspecting girls. The defect caused the car to catch fire and the girls tragically died. In depositions, an Enterprise manager even admitted he never considered the possibility that Enterprise should not rent defective vehicles to the public even after Enterprise had received recall notices.

Instead of accepting responsibility for this tragedy, Enterprise tried to blame the girls. Enterprise went to far as to tell Rachel and Jacquie’s parents that the girls were “suicidal or on drugs.”

“[Enterprise] spent five years pounding these parents,” said the Houck’s lawyer…. “‘Your daughter was negligent in the manner in which she drove the car, and she killed herself and her younger sister.’ And they continued to maintain that position until two weeks before the trial, at which time they finally admitted that they were the only cause of the deaths of Rachel and Jacquie,” said [the Houck's attorney].

A jury ultimately agreed and ordered Enterprise to pay $15 million in damages. Nevertheless, Enterprise and other rental car companies continued to rent defective and recalled vehicles to the unsuspecting public and continued to lobby against legislation that would prohibit rental car companies from renting unrepaired recalled vehicles.

Not only may rental car companies rent defective vehicles to customers, but many of them eliminate critical safety equipment that is standard on vehicles sold to the general public in order to save costs. Such moves blatantly put profits over the safety of rental car customers. USA Today referred to a 2009 Kansas City Star investigation that found Enterprise Rent-A-Car saved millions of dollars by deleting a standard safety feature – side curtain air bags – from 2006-08 Chevy Impalas purchased from General Motors.

Want to know which car rental companies are fighting in order to rent you a recalled vehicle? I suggest you contact them to let them know you don’t think they should be renting defective, recalled vehicles to unsuspecting customers:

Feds investigate problems with side air bags

Federal safety regulators are investigating a problem with side air bags that may fail to inflate in a crash. The problem already has caused recalls of more than 2,700 Toyota, Honda, Subaru and Nissan vehicles, but that number could grow if the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration determines that more automakers used similar defective parts.

The recalled vehicles could have an ineffective mixture of the gas that inflates the side curtain air bags in a crash. That mix could mean air bags on one or both sides of the cars won’t inflate in a crash, increasing the risk of injury, the agency said in documents posted on its website. So far no one has been hurt.

All four companies with recalled vehicles told NHTSA that the Americas unit of Swedish safety parts maker Autoliv Inc. made the propellant for the side air bags. The investigation was opened Feb. 14. Documents detailing the probe were posted on NHTSA’s website last weekend.

He did not answer a question about what other automakers are using the same inflators.

Autoliv also supplies parts to General Motors Co., Ford Motor Co., Volkswagen AG, Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Motors Corp., according to its website, but it was unclear whether those companies got the same air bag inflators.