Philadelphia Car Accident Lawyer Blog

A California jury awarded $15 million dollars to the parents of daughters who died in a fiery 2004 automotive crash in a vehicle that had been recalled for safety reasons but not repaired by the car rental company. On October 7, 2004, a Chrysler PT Cruiser was rented at an Enterprise agency. One month prior to the car rental, Daimler Chrysler sent out a safety recall notice for 435,000 PT Cruisers from 2002 through 2005 with a notice stating that the power steering hose could leak resulting in a vehicle fire.

The vehicle occupied by the deceased victims had been rented four times since the recall. Enterprise manager, Mark Matias stated that before the accident, he was not aware that the PT Cruiser was recalled and furthermore stated that the Enterprise corporate philosophy was “You’ve got to keep booking because you don’t know when you are going to get the car back. But then of course, you run short on vehicles and if all you have are recalled vehicles on the lot, you rent them out. It was given, the whole company did it.” The expert retained by the plaintiffs concluded that the deceased lost steering due to a power steering fluid leak. Not so surprisingly, Enterprise argued that the crash was due to the victims’ driving.

As an experienced Philadelphia car accident lawyer who has successfully handled other automotive product liability claims involving manufacturing defects, we believe that it is extraordinarily important that car rental companies be held accountable for the consequences of their actions. When one rents a car from a car rental company, you have every right to expect that the company has complied with all safety and recall conditions and that the vehicle you are renting is safe to be driven without risk of harm or damages.

If you or a loved one has been involved in serious Pennsylvania car accident, please contact one of our experienced Philadelphia car accident lawyers at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

Once again Toyota executives have a bulls eye on their backs as at least 10 new complaints submitted to the National Highway Safety Traffic Administration charged the recall fix is not working and the problems with sudden acceleration defect continues. The new post-recall complaints were first noted in a report by Safety Research and Strategies SRS a private research firm located in Rehobath, MA. Among the complaints detailed by SRS was a driver who said that even though her 2009 Toyota Matrix had its brakes and pass pedal service February 10th, the car was so uncontrollable on February 26th. Another 2008 Avalon owner said the car was backing out of a driveway a few days after being serviced when it accelerated on its own and the car did about three loops around the garage area of the home causing damage to the car, benches, branches, trees, lamp post, etc. Another complaint says that 2010 Toyota Camry suddenly surged just 5 days after having recall work done.

Although Toyota executives claim they are confident that their SUA recalls will end when the microphones are put in front of them, some consumers who have taken their recall vehicles in for the fix tell a different story.

The Toyota vehicle defect law firm of Reiff and Bily is continuing to investigate and handle Toyota SUA cases and if you or a loved one has been a victim of this situation, please feel free to contact our office for a free consultation.

Recently General Motors and the United States Treasury were forced to agree that all claims arising out of incidents that occurred prior to the emergence of the “new GM” would be liabilities assumed by the “new GM.” This hard fought victory means that as many as 70 million vehicles for which there was intended to be no tort or product liability are now the responsibility of the “new GM.”

In the past, Chrysler did not assume the same accountability or liability. It now seems impossible that Chrysler can stand as the only car company which will not take responsibility for deaths and injuries caused by product defects in the 10 million or more Chrysler vehicles now on the road.

The Philadelphia car accident lawyers at Reiff and Bily are committed to representing the rights of catastrophically injured individuals as well as individuals who sustained fatalities as a result of being involved in a car accident with a defectively designed motor vehicle.

Under pressure from multiple consumer advocate groups, as well as State Attorneys General, General Motors Corporation agreed to assume legal responsibility for injuries drivers suffered from product liability and vehicle defects after General Motors emerges from bankruptcy protection. As it presently stands, consumers who are injured in car accidents after General Motors emerges from bankruptcy protection will be able to bring product liability claims against the government owned auto maker. Originally, General Motors had planned to eradicate all liabilities for defective product liability claims.

Curiously, the Chrysler Group, LLC which recently emerged from bankruptcy is not responsible for such product liability claims after the bankruptcy judge dismissed objections to its plan.

Currently there are alleged to be more than 300 people with personal injury claims against GM with a value exceeding $1.25 billion dollars. Under the original plan proposed by General Motors, personal injury or car accident victims who believe that faulty manufacturing or defective products caused by faulty GM manufacturing and vehicle design defects would be unable to sue the new GM. They would have been treated as unsecured creditors. Under the new plan, GM has agreed to take responsibility for future product liability claims.

Continue reading "Consumer Advocate Groups Score A Victory In GM Bankruptcy" »

Many innocent victims and families are driving Chrysler and GM cars that have potentially dangerous defects that no one knows about yet. They are “ticking time bombs”. The Chrysler and GM bankruptcy rushes forward in a dangerous fashion to many unsuspecting Americans. The safety of the American public is being compromised by the existence a very dangerous ticking time bomb bankruptcy loophole. The GM and Chrysler bankruptcy plans contain legal loopholes that will shield Chrysler and GM from being held accountable for defective cars and products that are ticking time bombs for families. The bankruptcy plans take away a critical public safety protection that has been used to reduce the number of Americans hurt or killed from defective vehicles. Presently there are 40,000,000 Chrysler and GM cars on the road, some of which tragically will have defects that will injure or kill people. Historical data compiled through the National Highway Safety Administration indicates that 47% of all death and injury claims filed against automobile manufacturers involve Chrysler and GM cars.

In the last five years, research has indicated that these claims involve 3,497 casualties connected to Chrysler cars and 15,284 connected to GM cars. Examples of such casualties include seat belts that fail and strangle children, seat backs that collapse and cause brain injury, unstable vehicles that flip causing roofs to cave in crushing occupants, and cars with gears that “self shift” from park to reverse and end up running people over and gasoline or brake fluid containers that are improperly positioned and catch fire or explode severely burning or killing the occupants.

Continue reading "Experienced Pennsylvania Product Liability Lawyers Claim That Bankruptcy Of GM And Chrysler Severely Compromises Public Safety" »