Tuesday, February 23, 2016

NHTSA: TOYOTA LEXUS RECALL: Inadvertent Side Curtain Air Bag Deployment




U.S. Department of Transportation National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
Your vehicle MAY be involved in a safety recall and MAY create a safety risk for you or your passengers. If left unrepaired, a potential safety defect could lead to injury or even death. Safety defects must be repaired by a dealer at no cost to you.
Why am I getting this email?
You are receiving this message because you requested to be notified by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) if there is a safety recall that may affect your vehicle.
The following may apply to one or more of your vehicles if your vehicle is listed below. Click on the NHTSA Campaign ID number below to read more about the safety issue and the reason for the recall.
To find out if your specific vehicle is included in the recall, use our VIN Look-up Tool.
NHTSA Campaign ID Number :16V065
Manufacturer :Toyota Motor Engineering & Manufacturing
Make / Model Years :LEXUS / 2003-2006
TOYOTA / 2003-2006
Subject :Inadvertent Side Curtain Air Bag Deployment
What is a recall?
When a manufacturer or the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) determines that a car or item of motor vehicle equipment creates an unreasonable risk to safety or fails to meet minimum safety standards, the manufacturer is required to fix that car or equipment at no cost to the consumer. That can be done by repairing it, replacing it, offering a refund (for equipment) or, in rare cases, repurchasing the car.
What should I do if my vehicle is included in this recall?
If your vehicle is included in this recall, it is very important that you get it fixed as soon as possible given the potential danger to you and your passengers if it is not addressed. You should receive a separate letter in the mail from the vehicle manufacturer, notifying you of the recall and explaining when the remedy will be available, whom to contact to repair your vehicle or equipment, and to remind you that the repair will be done at no charge to you. If you believe your vehicle is included in the recall, but you do not receive a letter in the mail from the vehicle manufacturer, please call NHTSA's Vehicle Safety Hotline at 1-888-327-4236, or contact your vehicle manufacturer or dealership.
Thank you for your attention to this important safety matter and for your commitment to helping save lives on America's roadways.


RECALL Subject : Inadvertent Side Curtain Air Bag Deployment

Monday, February 22, 2016

Are you safe in your vehicle? Is NHTSA adequately protecting you?


Owners of several vehicles on the lists that have been made available have been defensive "Not my car!' 

Think again!

Evidence indicates that TAKATA KNEW!
Evidence indicates that NHTSA failed to act expeditiously.



Air Bags intended to protect drivers and passengers have become KILLERS to some, showering the driver with shrapnel. 


Air Force Lt. Stephanie Erdman: 
"My passenger only had mild scrapes and bruises," she told lawmakers. "I should not have been injured in the shocking and terrifying way that I was."
A jagged piece of metal shot through Erdman's airbag and imbedded itself in her right eye, while also fracturing her right nasal bone. At the hearing Thursday she displayed a graphic photograph of herself with a chunk of metal protruding from her right eye.
"I was instantly blinded on my right side," she said. "I felt blood gushing down my neck. I was terrified. My vision will never be the same. I will never be the same."



Florida resident Stephanie Erdman suffered severe injuries in September 2013 when a Takata airbag exploded in her Honda Civic, sending metal fragments flying at her face.

http://www.citizensreport.org/2015/11/03/takata-airbag-recall-expanded/


When police got to the scene of a minor car accident in Alhambra, California in September 2013, they thought the driver, Hai Ming Xu, had been shot in the face.

A similar conclusion was reached by Orlando police responding to an accident a year later -- they believed that the driver, Hien Thi Tran, had been the victim of a stabbing that might have caused the accident.
[Hien Thi Tran]....an autopsy released this week found that the cause of death were the metal and plastic fragments that cut her neck.


In most cases the airbags deployed during a minor accident. But one lawsuit charges that the airbags in a 2001 Honda Civic deployed for no apparent reason while the car was stopped at a red light.
The driver in that case, Kristy Williams, barely survived the 2010 accident. Shrapnel tore into her carotid artery. She was able to insert two fingers into the wound to stop the bleeding, and a nearby pedestrian put pressure on the neck wound until help arrived. But she still had several strokes and now suffers from traumatic brain injury, according to her suit.

Takata airbag victims looked like they had been shot or stabbed

http://money.cnn.com/2014/11/20/autos/takata-airbag-victims/


U.S. investigating all Takata air bags 
with troubled propellant


Takata