News tagged with 'Seat Belts'

The Ford Motor Company was handed a defeat before the U.S. Supreme Court Monday when it denied a last-ditch effort by Ford to overturn a $82.6 million judgment in a Ford Explorer rollover accident. Jurors had decided Ford showed a "conscious disregard" for consumer safety by failing to enforce the roof for about $20 a vehicle.

General Motors passed another hurdle as it heads toward a sale free and clear of product liability claims by some 300 individuals. The judge says the sale is in the best interest of creditors and GM and is a better alternative to liquidation. 

New television ads will begin running in the Washington D.C. market urging Congress and President Obama to take action to protect people injured by defective automobiles who have no recourse through the courts under the Chrysler/GM  bankruptcy.

As the Bush administration winds down, there is a last minute push toward adding pre-emptive language to agencies that oversee everyday products, which essentially block consumer product liability lawsuits.  

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s (NHTSA) final ruling on seat belts could actually prevent you from taking an action to court if you are injured. Essentially the language says if an auto design is approved by the federal NHTSA, an injured consumer cannot challenge that authority in a state court lawsuit. 

General Motors Corp. (GM) announced a recall today of 280,000 Cadillac DeVilles due to faulty seat belts. According to the automaker, company officials recently discovered that pretensioners installed on model years 2000 through 2002 DeVilles functioned improperly. Pretensioners help seat belts decrease the forward m

Plaintiffs involved in a lawsuit against DaimlerChrysler AG over defective seatbelt buckles received encouraging news last week when a Texas judge granted nationwide class-action status to the suit. According to plaintiff attorneys, the Gen 3 seatbelt buckle installed in 14 million DaimlerChrysler vehicles since 1993

A Florida man left paralyzed after a horrific traffic accident in 1995 was awarded $9 million by a jury last week in a faulty seatbelt case involving General Motors Corp. Carl Porritt, 37, was riding in the passenger seat of his friend's Chevrolet S-10 pickup truck when a drunk driver rear-ended the vehicle. Porritt

A Florida mother who claimed Ford Motor Company was responsible for injuries her child suffered in a car accident has reached a settlement with the automaker. Jamaal Walker's spine was crushed in 1996 after a driver ran a stop sign and collided with his mother's 1992 Aerostar. The six-year-old was left a quadriplegic

The Tennessee Supreme Court ruled this week that a man injured in an automobile accident after his seatbelt failed could sue General Motors (GM) for "defective design." Attorneys representing the plaintiff argued that the seatbelt was more dangerous than the average consumer would expect. But GM attorneys contended t

The recent near-fatal auto accident involving supermodel Niki Taylor has prompted seatbelt advocates to reemphasize the importance of lap belt use in cars equipped with automatic seatbelt systems. Taylor was almost killed in an accident involving a 1993 Nissan fitted with automatic restraints because she failed to wea