Category Archives: Recalls and Safety Announcements

Some overly-enthusiastic passenger-side airbags are to blame for a worldwide recall that is affecting more than 3.3 million Honda, Mazda, Nissan, and Toyota vehicles worldwide.

The problem is that the airbags may deploy with too much force, resulting in metal shards showering the passenger cabin of the vehicle, which could make a bad situation worse for people who are involved in a car accident.

For Honda, this week’s airbag recall joins a list of others dating back to 2008, although prior problems involved driver’s side airbags deploying with too much force.

The airbags were manufactured by Japan’s Takata Corporation, according to the New York Times, and some of the affected airbags were also sold to BMW and General Motors, so we likely haven’t heard the last word on vehicles that have been affected by this problem.

For details on affected vehicles (all of which were model year 2000 to 2004 as of now) and instructions for vehicle owners, check out this L.A. Times article and the press releases linked up here: Honda | Toyota.

Learn more about vehicle recalls and defects.

Johnson & Johnson has been ordered to pay $8 million in damages to a retired prison guard who received a defective artificial hip that was manufactured (and later recalled) by the health care giant.

A Los Angeles jury sided with plaintiff Loren Kransky and placed Johnson & Johnson on the legal hook for marketing a defective product and failing to warn consumers about the health risks associated with the all-metal artificial hip device, 93,000 of which were recalled in 2010.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the financial hit that Johnson &  Johnson took today could have been a lot worse: the plaintiff’s attorney asked the jury to order the company to pay another $179 million in punitive damages. When the jury declined that request, you could probably hear the sigh of relief coming all the way from J&J headquarters in New Brunswick, New Jersey.

Learn more about Product Liability Claims Involving Medical Devices.

Over 36 million pounds of ground turkey is being pulled from stores — and hopefully, from consumers’ fridges and freezers too — in one of the country’s largest-ever meat recalls.

The fresh and frozen ground turkey is produced by Cargill Meat Solutions Corporation, and affected products include well-known brand names like Honeysuckle and Shady Hill Farms.

The recalled turkey has been linked to dozens of salmonella cases. At least 76 people have been sickened, and one person has died. Federal safety officials are still trying to pinpoint the exact source of the problem, although right now attention is being focused on a Cargill production plant in Arkansas, a facility that has been shut down as part of the investigation.

To learn whether any of the recalled Cargill turkey products may be hanging around in your fridge or freezer, check out this full list of products affected by the turkey recall, from the USDA. And if it turns out you’ve got them, toss them.

Although the problem seems to be limited to Cargill’s Arkansas facility, the affected products have been distributed nationwide, and the list of people who have been sickened so far includes residents of at least 25 states.

To learn more about the health and legal issues related to food poisoning outbreaks and recalls like this one, check out Nolo’s articles Food Poisoning and Foodborne Illness and Lawsuits Involving Food Poisoning.

New federal safety standards for cribs are in effect as of June 28, 2011. After dozens of high-profile crib recalls and infant injuries linked to defective crib hardware, the new crib safety rules — which include a ban on all drop-side cribs — seek to establish “a new generation of safer cribs” and provide clear guidelines for parents and caregivers.

The new federal crib requirements (detailed by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission here) can be broken down into five key provisions:
1. Drop-side cribs can no longer be manufactured, sold, or re-sold in the U.S. (parents and caregivers are instructed to either look into getting an immobilizer for a drop-side crib, or to disassemble and discard any drop-side cribs they own.)
2. Mattress supports must be stronger and more durable
3. Slats must be made of stronger wood to prevent breakage.
4. Crib hardware must be more durable, including incorporation of anti-loosening devices to keep hardware from coming loose and falling off.
5. Safety testing that is more rigorous, to better establish a crib’s durability over time.

If you’re in the market for a new crib, or if you’re wondering whether a crib you already have is in line with the new federal standards, you’ve probably got plenty of questions. Hopefully, CPSC has the answers. Check out The New Crib Standard: Questions and Answers and CPSC’s Crib Information Center for more information.

Chevrolet is recalling over 2,000 of its popular Cruze model compact cars because of a potential problem with the steering wheel column that could result in the steering wheel literally coming off in the driver’s hands. It happened to one Cruze driver recently. Thankfully, no car accident or injuries resulted. But the single incident did initiate the recall of 2,100 model year 2011 Cruze vehicles, since once is enough when it comes to a steering wheel falling into a driver’s lap (it’s right up there with a gas pedal getting stuck).

According to the NHTSA recall database, the problem is that some steering wheels may have been improperly fastened during manufacturing, and could separate from the steering column. General Motors (which owns Chevrolet) says that GM and Chevrolet dealers will inspect (free of charge) the steering wheel and steering column of affected Cruze models to ensure proper assembly. If you own a Cruze vehicle that’s being recalled, you’ll likely be hearing from GM or your dealer soon, if you haven’t been contacted already. You can also get in touch with Chevrolet directly at 1-800-630-2438 or visit GM’s website for car owners.

Learn more about vehicle recalls and defects in Nolo’s article Product Liability Claims Involving Defective Cars.