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The Problem Solver | The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and LaJobi Inc. on Thursday announced a voluntary recall of approximately 217,000 Graco-brand drop-side cribs because they pose entrapment and suffocation hazards.
The CPSC said customers should immediately stop using the cribs and should not attempt to fix them.
Get the full story: The Problem Solver.
By Jerry Hirsch | Toyota Motor Corp. issued yet another recall Wednesday, this time
announcing a program to upgrade the software in the vehicle stability
control system on about 50,000 early-2003 Toyota Sequoia sport utility
vehicles.
The electronic system is designed to prevent a loss of traction in turns
as a result of front or rear tire slippage during cornering.
A technician installs a pedal modification on a Toyota. (Tribune, file photo)
Associated Press | The government said Monday that Toyota has agreed to pay a record $16.4
million fine for failing to properly notify federal authorities about a
dangerous pedal defect.
The fine is the largest-ever penalty paid by an automaker to the U.S.
government. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood said that by failing to
report safety problems, Toyota put consumers at risk.
The Problem Solver |
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission voted 3-2 today on the creation of a new Internet searchable database of consumer product incident reports on SaferProducts.gov that Congress called on as part of the 2008 product safety law. “With the new database, people would be able to see complaints of injuries or potential harm that are filed to the commission by consumers, safety groups, health care professionals and others,” the Associated Press reported.
Get the full story: The Problem Solver.
Associated Press | Five days before Toyota announced a massive recall, a U.S. executive at
the company wrote in an internal e-mail: “We need to come clean” about
accelerator problems, according to documents obtained by The Associated
Press.
“We are not protecting our customers by keeping this quiet,” wrote Irv
Miller, group vice president for environment and public affairs. “The
time to hide on this one is over.”
Associated Press | A top Toyota executive is expected to address auto dealers, a day after federal officials said they’ll seek a $16 million penalty over safety recalls.
Don Esmond is the senior vice president of automotive operations at Toyota Motor Sales USA. He’s expected to speak about new incentives and safety recalls in Rosemont.
Visitors at the Toyota’s company showroom next to its headquarters in Japan. (Yoshikazu Tsuno/AFP/Getty Images)
Associated Press | Toyota sales surged 40 percent in March compared with last year after the automaker offered some of its deepest discounts ever to cope with the fallout of millions of recalls.
The incentives were scheduled to end April 5, but Toyota Group Vice President Bob Carter said some will continue into the spring, including an offer of free maintenance for return Toyota customers.
The Problem Solver | The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Health Canada, in cooperation with Infantino LLC, announced a recall of 1 million baby slings in the U.S. and 15,000 in Canada. The slings were recalled because three infant deaths occurred in these slings in 2009, according to a March 24 CPSC press release.
Infantino is providing free replacement slings for the recalled “SlingRider” and “Wendy Bellissimo” models. CPSC is advising consumers to immediately stop using the recalled slings for infants younger than four months old because they pose a suffocation hazard. The press release warned parents to not attempt to fix the carriers.
Get the full story at The Problem Solver’s blog.
Associated Press | Toyota has told dealers it will provide
replacement accelerator pedals to owners unsatisfied with their repairs
under the massive recall following dozens of complaints about the fix.
The Japanese automaker said in a memo obtained Tuesday by The Associated
Press that if a customer is unhappy with the feel of the accelerator
after the car is repaired, dealers can provide a replacement pedal free.
Dealers have been inserting a piece of metal into the gas pedal
mechanism to eliminate friction that was causing the pedal problem on
more than 4 million vehicles involved in a January recall.
The Problem Solver | The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and Graco Children’s
Products Inc. today announced a voluntary recall of approximately 1.2
million Harmony high chairs because they pose a fall hazard to children,
according to a press release.
“The
screws
holding the front legs of the high chair can loosen and fall out
and/or the plastic bracket on the rear legs can crack causing the high
chair to become unstable and tip over unexpectedly,” the press release
said.
Pictures and full story at: The Problem Solver
Associated Press | Honda Motor Co. will recall more than 410,000
Odyssey minivans and Element small trucks because of braking system
problems that could make it tougher to stop the vehicle if not repaired.
The recall includes 344,000 Odysseys and 68,000 Elements from the 2007
and 2008 model years.
Honda said in a statement that over time, brake pedals can feel “soft”
and must be pressed closer to the floor to stop the vehicles. Left
unrepaired, the problem could cause loss of braking power and possibly a
crash, Honda spokesman Chris Martin said.
John Gomez, attorney for driver James Sikes, talks about his client’s experiences Sunday. He said Toyota has a “ghost in the machine.” (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)
The Associated Press | The U.S. government said Monday it cannot explain
a reported incident of sudden, high-speed acceleration in a Toyota Prius on a San Diego, Calif., freeway last week.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said in a statement that it continues to investigate but “we may never know exactly what happened with this car.”
The agency said its engineers are reviewing data from the Prius owned by James Sikes to try to understand what happened with his hybrid. But so far, it says it has not been able to find anything to explain the incident that Sikes reported.
Driver James Sikes talks about his experiences in his Toyota Prius during a news conference held at Toyota of El Cajon, Tuesday, March 9, 2010. (AP Photo/Denis Poroy)
Dow Jones-The Wall Street Journal | Toyota Motor Corp. said
Tuesday that the Prius involved in a well-publicized acceleration
incident in California will be the subject of a future recall to
prevent floor mats from pinning down the gas pedal.
On Monday, James Sikes, 61 years old, called 911 for help after his
2008 Prius accelerated on a highway near San Diego and he couldn’t slow
it down. A California Highway Patrol officer caught up to the Prius and
advised the driver to apply the brakes and emergency brake to slow the
vehicle.
(Daniel Acker/Bloomberg)
By Jon Yates
| Attention potato crisp lovers: Pringles has recalled two of its products. And no, it’s not because the flavors, Pringles Restaurant Cravers Cheeseburger and Pringles Family Faves Taco Night, are, as the Problem Solver’s daughter would say, “yucky.” The problem is that one of the seasonings used to produce the two flavors contains hydrolyzed vegetable protein, or HVP, which the Problem Solver blogged about last week. HVP is manufactured by Basic Food Flavors, Inc., which voluntarily recalled several batches due to potential salmonella exposure.
Get the full story at The Problem Solver’s blog.
Associated Press | Toyota owners claiming that massive safety
recalls are causing the value of their vehicles to plummet have filed
at least 89 class-action lawsuits that could cost the Japanese auto
giant $3 billion or more, according to an Associated Press review of
cases, legal precedent and interviews with experts.
Those estimates do not include potential payouts for wrongful death and
injury lawsuits, which could reach in the tens of millions each. Still,
the sheer volume of cases involving U.S. Toyota owners claiming lost
value — 6 million or more — could prove far more costly, adding up to
losses in the billions for the automaker.
Such class-action lawsuits “are more scary for Toyota than the cases
where people actually got injured,” said Tom Baker, a University of
Pennsylvania law professor.
