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Product
Injuries
Each year
millions of people are injured, made sick, or killed by unsafe
products, vehicles, foods, chemicals, drugs, and medical products.
Recalled products (i.e. products withdrawn from the market)
kill an estimated 22,000 people each year. Unsafe products
or drugs are often the result of a design flaw, a manufacturing
defect, or inadequate warning labels or instructions. Courts
have held that manufacturers, sellers, and distributors may
be held strictly liable (fault need not be shown) for any
injury caused by their defective or unsafe products.
The laws protect consumers from unsafe products. When a product
is unsafe or does not perform as advertised, the manufacturer
of the product and other parties may be held responsible for
any injuries cause by the unsafe product.
Drug
Injuries
In the last five years, approximately 20 million patients
took at least one of five drugs subsequently removed from
the market because of safety risks, including Rezulin, Baycol,
and the diet drugs popularly known as Fen-Phen (Redux). Recalled
drugs have been implicated in at least 1,000 deaths over the
last decade. In addition to injuries arising from recalled
drugs, preventable drug errors by doctors and pharmacists
result in at least 1.9 million drug-related injuries each
year. According to the Journal of the American Association,
adverse drug reactions resulting from correctly administered
Federal Food and Drug Administration (FDA)
- approved prescription drugs are responsible for over 100,000
deaths per year in the United States making it the fourth
leading cause of death in the United States. In addition to
the fatal events, there are typically over 2.2 million annual
occurrences of non-fatal, but serious, reactions, and millions
of complications and disabilities related to the unexpected
effects of drugs, chemical compounds and a variety of products. For general information about drug safety, visit our DrugRecalls.com website.
Vehicles
Cars
According to the National Highway Traffic & Safety Administration,
safety defects are usually the result of inadequate design
or manufacturing error. The National Highway Traffic & Safety
(NHTSA)
is responsible for issuing recalls, warnings and safety alerts
concerning unsafe or defective automobiles, motorcycles and
tires. When there are reports of a possible vehicle problem,
the government gathers all information on a problem, government
engineers analyze the problem, and where warranted, manufacturers
are asked to conduct a recall. If the manufacturer does not
initiate a recall, the government can order the manufacturer
to issue a recall. Examples of vehicle safety defects include:
seatbelts that fail in a collision, airbags that fail to deploy
or that deploy unexpectedly, adult and children seats that
release in a crash, accelerator control or brake failure or
sticking, and fuel system problems that may result in leaks
or fires.
Sport
Utility Vehicle (SUV) Rollovers
Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) are among the most popular
and best selling vehicles today. However, many people have
the misconception that SUVs are rugged and safe. Various studies
and reports have indicated that many SUVs have a dangerous
tendency to roll over in a collision or sharp turn, increasing
one's risk of serious or fatal injury. SUVs' size, high center
of gravity, narrow track width, and top-heavy designs make
them up to three times more prone to rollovers than other
vehicles. Further aggravating the problem is that SUVs manufactured
for consumer use on streets and highways fail to include important
anti-rollover features (such as roll bars) found on their
off-road counterparts. Additionally weak roof designs (prone
to collapsing on occupants in rollovers) and inadequate safety
restraint systems increase the risk of severe injury. According
to a report by the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration
(NHTSA), about 9,000 people die each year in 227,000 rollover
accidents. Moreover, rollovers accounted for more than half
of all single-vehicle crashes and that the rate of serious
passenger injury in rollover crashes in 36% higher than in
non-rollover crashes. Additionally, the NHTSA warns that vehicle
rollover crashes are much more likely to result in serious
head injuries than other types of accidents.
Tires
According to the National Highway Traffic & Safety Administration
(NHTSA)
tens of millions of tires have been recalled in recent years,
including tires made by Bridgestone-Firestone, Goodyear, and
Cooper. The NHTSA requires manufacturers to recall and or
replace defective of non-compliant tires. Defectively designed
or manufactured tires may suddenly loose their tread or explode
(blow-out) causing the driver to lose control of the vehicle,
resulting in a collision or accident. The NHTSA has documented
at least 200 deaths and more than 700 injuries linked to accidents
involving Firestone tires and Ford Explorers.
For general information about automobile recalls, visit our Automobile-Recalls.com website.
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