Philadelphia Car Accident Lawyer Blog

Believe it or not, a recent survey indicated that over 78% of all drivers are improperly seat belted in their vehicle with improper shoulder belt position which means that in the event of an accident, the seat restraint systems will not perform as they were designed to prevent injury or death. When I first started to drive, I very rarely used a seat belt and as I have been practicing catastrophic motor vehicle accident law and automotive defect law with a concentration on airbag defects and seat back defects, I have learned that it is extremely important to always use a seat belt, as well as properly determine that the seat belt is properly positioned. Many people may not be aware of proper seat belt positioning and may not understand the likelihood of serious and permanent injuries that result from an improper seat belt fit. In many seat belt defect cases that we are called upon to investigate, manufacturers will initially try to state that the victim was not wearing a seat belt and then thereafter, if we can prove that a seat belt was worn, that they will many times try to argue that the seat belt was improperly positioned and the resulting injuries were due to a fault of none other than the victim. Even worse yet, if a child is injured, many defense attorneys will point the finger at the parents, claiming that the parents allowed the child to ride with a belt behind their back or under their arm or against their face and this situation naturally caused the injury.

A properly positioned seat belt is one that should be snugly fitted against the strongest areas of the body. Position seat belts low enough across the hips and pelvis and never across your stomach, particularly if you are pregnant. Position shoulder belts across the chest and across the hips and pelvis and never against the front of the neck or face or under the arms. Allow no more than one inch of slack in shoulder belts and always sit erect with the seat back straight as safety belts cannot work and cause injury in a crash if the seat back is reclined, if your back is away from the seat or if your legs are curled beneath you. It is important to have specially designed child safety seats to protect small children and infants.

The experienced seat belt defect, airbag defect, and Philadelphia car accident lawyers of Reiff and Bily are committed to automobile and motorist safety. For more information, contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

Recently one of the major automobile manufacturers confidentially resolved a case involving brain damage to a driver who was at fault during the accident. Counsel was able to demonstrate that the failure to provide side curtain airbags and lack of side laminated glass caused massive head trauma and resulting brain damage when the vehicle experienced multiple rollovers. The attorneys were able to demonstrate that the technology to provide operating side-impact airbags existed long before this catastrophic incident occurred and that the automobile manufacturers simply decided that it was not necessary to place side curtain airbags in the vehicle or provide glazed or laminated glass when in fact the same was being provided in other countries. Obviously, the automobile manufacturer felt that they could make more profits by their actions.

At the Philadelphia car accident and automotive product liability and airbag defect law firm of Reiff and Bily, we understand that safety is priority number one. If you or a loved one had been involved in a car accident involving an airbag failure defect, it costs nothing to contact one of our experienced airbag and auto product liability lawyers for a free, no obligation consultation. We are experienced in thinking “out of the box”. For more information, contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

When Bill Brownwell was cruising in a 15 passenger van and suddenly felt a shake in the back of the van and to his right, he became concerned and alarmed and turned around to take a look at what the noise was. Brownwell was driving a 1993 Ford Econoline E350 15-passenger van on a church outing for a spring concert tour in 2004 when he lost control of the 15 passenger van when the right rear tire tread separated. Like most other 15-passenger van operators in a similar situation, he tried to regain control of the vehicle and bring it back to the roadway after which point the 15-passenger van flipped sideways and then rolled over four times ejecting the driver Brownwell and another passenger leaving them both dead on the side of the road. This 15 passenger van rollover case is currently being tried in California with allegations that the Ford Motor Company knew that the 15-passenger econoline van was dangerous and failed to notify its customers about its alleged defects.

As an experienced 15-passenger van rollover attorney who has witnessed a similar scenario over and over, and unfortunately has dealt with the families of those who have unnecessarily died or have been catastrophically injured due to the alleged defects of the 15-passenger vans, it is important that the manufacturers of these 15-passenger vans be held accountable for their conduct and lack of actions. 15-passenger vans have a high center of gravity and have a high risk of crashes and rollovers in an accident avoidance maneuver or if they are not properly driven or maintained by those who have knowledge of its specific handling characteristics. Many states and school districts have now banned 15-passenger vans. However, they still be the dominant vehicle of choice for church groups, many of whom have limited knowledge of their dangers. The Federal government recently banned the use of 15-passenger vans for school transportation purposes and NHTSA has recently stated that only trained drivers should operate their vehicles and to make sure that the vehicle is properly balanced and loaded.

While NHTSA advises passengers to buckle up for every trip, our experienced 15-passenger van and crashworthiness attorneys have been able to demonstrate even in a van rollover, a weak roof structure, and inadequate and defective design still renders the occupants subject to life altering catastrophic injuries including quadriplegia or paraplegia or death. Many times 15-passenger vans are operated in the South or Southwest where roads have high surface temperatures and tires blow out or delaminate preceding the rollover accident. Many 15-passenger vans still have recalled tires on them, that is, defective tires that are prone to blow out or tread separation. There are currently in excess of 500,000 15-passenger vans on the road, and according to safety and consumer advocate Sean Kane, the 15-passenger van “has a unique position in the world of defective vehicles in the United States”. These vehicles, Kane added, were cobbled together to meet certain needs but were never vetted in terms of safety. There really weren’t any standards applicable to these kind of vehicles.

For over three decades, the experienced vehicle rollover accident and 15-passenger van accident attorneys of Reiff & Bily have been successfully investigating and litigating SUV rollover crashes, 15-passenger van rollover crashes, and other product liability claims, including but not limited to defective seat belts, airbags defects, fuel fed fires, roof crush, and crashworthiness. We are committed to consumer and automobile safety and believe that automobile manufacturers must be held accountable and safety rather than profitability must be priority number one.

Since 1979, I have been actively investigating and litigating catastrophic motor vehicle accidents that result in life altering injuries and wrongful death. My original car accident law practice progressed over the years into the area of auto seat back failure, airbags defects, restraint system failure, and crashworthiness, and I have learned that when someone is catastrophically injured in a car accident, there is often more than meets the eye and you must carefully investigate and reconstruct the accident to investigate for product defects. In many car accident cases involving vehicle rollover or severe collisions there will be failures of restraint systems, seat back failures, roof crush, and crashworthiness issues. One of the key issues in a vehicle crash is containment of an occupant within the vehicle, and when a victim is vehicle ejected, often times there is a failure of one of these factors. Car seats must be properly and safely designed with adequate strength so as to avoid deformity and failure in the event of a collision.

A seat belt must protect the victim rather than spool out allowing for ejection from the vehicle. Many seat belts we have found are equipped with inadequate pre-tensioners when there are safer designs with sensors that would activate in the event of a rollover collision. Many times seat belts are not attached properly within the vehicle and windows are not glazed and are inadequate creating a portal for occupant ejection. Obviously, many car accident lawyers do not possess the experience, knowledge, or skills of biomechanics, occupant kinematics, occupant restraint, seat design or accident reconstruction experience necessary to successfully prosecute a serious case.

The experienced automobile defect and car accident lawyers of Reiff & Bily have recovered hundreds of millions of dollars for over three decades and are not afraid to think outside the box. The resulting injuries from car accidents are not always solely caused by negligent drivers.

As an experienced Philadelphia car accident attorney who has successfully litigated many airbag defect and vehicle products defect, I am well aware that automotive airbags are supposed to deploy within milliseconds to protect lives and avoid catastrophic injuries in the event of an accident. An airbag is inflated by highly compressed gas commonly known as nitrous oxide and a metallic charger. Many times due to a sensor defect or due to a charger malfunction, the airbag does not deploy properly.

Over the last year, hundreds of thousands of motor vehicles were recalled in the United States for airbag defects including but not limited to low speed deployment, early deployment, late deployment, or non-deployment. The airbag was invented in the 1950's and have been consistently redesigned and developed in the 1970's to the present. Unfortunately as the number of airbags being placed in vehicles has increased, there seems to be a lack of quality in airbag manufacturing and installation as evidenced by the growing number of defect recalls.

With so many different types and manufacture of airbags in vehicles there seems to be an increasing potential of airbag malfunction or airbag failure. Airbags are supposed to prevent drivers and passengers from striking the steering column, dashboard, or windshield and to spread the force of the impact to avoid net trauma, fractures, injuries, paraplegia, quadriplegia, and damage to internal organs or wrongful death.

Our skilled Philadelphia airbag defect and auto defect product liability lawyers have determined that many vehicle and airbag manufacturers are taking cost cutting measures including but not limited to negligent installation, inadequate testing, and defective materials. The skilled and experienced Pennsylvania airbag defect lawyers and automotive product defect lawyers of Reiff & Bily believe that safety should never be an option and must always take priority over manufacturers bottom line and profitability. A catastrophic injury or wrongful death caused by an airbag defect can have a profound effect on the victim or their family. A catastrophic injury often requires lifelong care and rehabilitation and can cost millions of dollars. The experienced auto product liability and airbag defect lawyers of Reiff & Bily understand this complex area of law and have represented generations of Pennsylvanians since 1979. Consumer protection is our priority. We always offer a free, no obligation consultation. For more information, please contact us toll free at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.

Over the years, airbags have become a mandatory safety device in all new cars. There is no question that many lives have been saved due to airbags. Airbags are meant to prevent an occupant's head from striking a part of the vehicle and spread the force of the impact across his body. Due to the speed of airbag deployment and the chemicals used, there is always the possibility that airbags do more harm than good. Believe it or not, airbags often do not operate properly causing serious injuries and deaths. Philadelphia product liability and car accident lawyer Jeffrey Reiff and the experienced Pennsylvania defective airbag lawyers at Reiff & Bily have been researching and handling automotive and defective airbag cases for many years.

Continue reading "Airbags: Safety Devices That Sometimes Cause Injuries" »

An earlier generation of airbag cases begs for design improvement to protect an unbelted person of an average weight of 165 lbs. These first generation airbags deployed at a single level with a force powerful enough to kill or injure a small adult or child seated in the front passenger seat. Vehicles made after 2007 contain smart airbag detection systems; however many times defects in airbag design or installation can fool a smart airbag into not deploying when it should or deploy it when it shouldn’t. Many smart airbags determine how much force to deploy based upon the weight of the passenger. Some systems utilize a sensor on the seat bottom to determine this weight and other systems use bladders filled with gel which basically tell the airbag controller not to deploy in a crash when a front seat passenger weighs less than 105 lbs.

Many times due to variations in temperature or sensor defect, a system is tricked, resulting in death or catastrophic injury to a passenger. Most of the advanced airbag technologies tailor airbag deployment to the severity of the crash and the size and posture of the vehicle occupant. However, many of the vehicles on our roadways do not have sensors identifying children and very small adults or control airbag deployment force. This means that many children and smaller sized passengers in these vehicles are at risk for catastrophic injury or death when a front airbag deploys. Of course, first generation airbags in older vehicles pose the greatest risk. A recent study indicated that children had a 14.9% chance of serious injury from an airbag deployment in a 1997 or older model year vehicle versus a 9.9% risk in a 1998 to 2001 vehicle. Later model year vehicles were not studied. Interestingly, children older than 12 and smaller adults can also be at risk of injury when a front airbag deploys due to lack of bone density and muscle mass.

We recently were involved with a case with a smaller than average occupant who sustained the loss of eyesight due to the alleged size of her body and failure to be positioned properly for safe deployment. This was an older vehicle, pre-2007, with a one size fits all approach to the technology.

If you or a loved one has been involved in an accident caused by an allegedly defective airbag, please feel free to contact one of our experienced airbag defect lawyers for a free consultation to fully evaluate and investigate your case and determine who is or may be at fault and determine the proper amount of compensation that you will be able to recover.

Chrysler has announced a recall of almost 3,210 vehicles due to the fact that the passenger side front airbag would not deploy properly. Additionally, Land Rover is recalling 4,000 of its 2010 Range Rovers because a computer problem may keep the passenger side airbag from deploying. Thirdly, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has started an investigation into the stalling problems on approximately 397,000 Toyota Corolla Matrix models. The safety agency says it began its preliminary evaluation of 2006 models based on 26 complaints about the 1.8 liter 4 cylinder engine quitting “while driving including some on highways and intersections.”

If you own or operate any of these vehicles, you should immediately have your vehicle inspected by the dealer to avoid a potential catastrophic injury or fatality. The Philadelphia car accident lawyers at Reiff & Bily are committed to consumer safety.

Philadelphia car accident lawyer and airbag defect law firm call attention to a recall notice. Mitsubishi and the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) have issued an alert regarding Mitsubishi Endeavor airbags produced between May 26 and July 28, 2009 claiming that a retainer bracket in the seat mounted airbags may not have been properly joined. Faulty welding can cause the front driver's seat and front passenger side airbags to fail to deploy properly which could result in catastrophic injury or death should a crash occur. The replacement is known to be on a case by case basis and may not be necessary at all as the recalled Endeavors will be inspected first for the quality of the welds. It is recommended by the Philadelphia airbag defect law firm of Reiff & Bily that if you own one of these vehicles, you should immediately visit the dealer and have this weld inspected to insure safe operation of your vehicle and avoid catastrophic injury or death should a car accident occur.

The National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration, in an attempt to prevent motorists from being ejected from vehicles during rollover crashes, announced on Tuesday, December 2, 2009 that new cars and trucks will be required to have a larger and stronger side airbags. Every year over ten thousand deaths occur in vehicle rollover crashes. Electronic stability control is required to be in all new vehicles by the 2012 model year. NHTSA predicts that when all vehicles under 10,000 lbs. or less have this technology, the number of deaths from rollovers should be reduced by approximately 50%.

The Philadelphia car accident, airbag defect, and SUV rollover attorneys at Reiff & Bily salute these latest efforts by NHTSA. If you or a loved one has been involved in a car accident or rollover accident, please feel free to contact one of our experienced Philadelphia car accident and rollover attorneys for a free consultation at 1-800-421-9595 or online at www.reiffandbily.com.