Las Vegas Injury & Accident Attorney Blog

Remember the old days when you could replace a distributor cap, gap your own spark plugs, change the muffler – even fix your clutch? Today’s complicated computer-controlled modern automobiles make these and many other DIY auto repair tasks a thing of the past. Simply put, your car’s computer control system is much more complicated than even the Super Nintendo you wasted hours playing Mario Brothers on.

The computer control systems that make today’s cars impossible for DIY repair do bring significant benefits to drivers and consumers, however. It is the brains behind the anti-lock brakes that prevented you from rear ending the guy who just stopped short in front of you. It balances the air and gas mix in pistons and fuel injectors. It even controls your car’s cruise control!

While you are baffled by the computer control systems in your car, a recent study by the United States National Research Council, which is part of the National Academy of Science, showed that the National Highway and Safety Administration was ill equipped to evaluate and detect problems with many of today’s high-tech cars. One of the issues highlighted in the NRC report was the NTSHA’s inability to accurately assess the safety of complicated systems like adaptive cruise control.

As many of you may recall, last year there was significant coverage of a rash of sudden-unintended acceleration incidents by multiple Toyota makes and models. To refresh your memory, the sudden acceleration issue was seen in the Toyota Corolla, Camry, Tacoma, Avalon, Matrix and Pontiac Vibe.

Even though the NRC’s scathing report covered many of the systems associated with sudden-unintended acceleration, the NRC found no issues or faults with the NTSHA’s recent analysis of the problem plaguing Toyota Motor Company.

If you or a family member was injured or killed due to the sudden acceleration of your automobile, and would like a free legal consultation, contact Benson and Bingham Attorneys at Law today. We are one of the highest ranked personal injury law firms in Las Vegas, Nevada. Benson and Bingham develop deep and long lasting relationships with their clients, relying as much on word-of-mouth for new clients as any firm in the South Valleys. Contact us to discuss your case today!

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In recent months, the Ford motor company has watched — likely with a kind of perverse satisfaction — as its automobile rivals have made headlines in the worst of ways. Much of last year’s auto news was dominated by reports of the Toyota acceleration recall, which is implicated in nearly 100 deaths nationwide. Nevada drivers are anxiously awaiting the outcome of litigation in neighboring California to find out if they will receive compensation for direct and indirect damages due to the recalled vehicles.

We recently reported on an engine defect in Honda vehicles that can cause the car to stall suddenly and which has been addressed in a recall affecting some 40,000 cars. Ford is still living down the fallout from its infamous Firestone tire defect epidemic, and now it may have another major issue to deal with. At the urging of the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), Ford has issued a recall of about 140,000 vehicles in the United States due to faulty wiring that can cause the airbags to deploy inadvertently. Although airbags are installed in automobiles as safety devices, they can deploy with powerful force. The Ford airbag deployment problem has affected at least 238 vehicles, and the NHTSA claims that it has been told of dozens of injuries; with airbags deploying unexpectedly, the potential for serious head trauma is alarmingly high.

The recall is voluntary at this point, but it only covers about ten percent of the automobiles the NHTSA wanted to have recalled. Some 1.3 million Ford F-150 pickup trucks are thought to have a wrongly installed wire controlling the airbag monitor. Analysts say that this issue is not yet resolved — Ford is waging a quiet battle with the NHTSA to limit the scope of the recall, but it may not prevail if reports of Nevada Ford airbag defects continue to come in. If you believe that you own or have been harmed by an affected F-150 pickup, contact our Las Vegas automobile defect lawyers today for a free consultation.

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It happens every year — the first major snow storm leaves the roads slick and slushy, and motorists drive as if they’ve never encountered snow before. Oh — if this sounds odd to our Las Vegas readers, bear in mind that this phenomenon does not occur often in Nevada anywhere south of Tonopah. But with Thanksgiving travel commencing tomorrow, even drivers in Southern Nevada need to be prepared for wintry driving.

Inclement weather is a major cause of Nevada motor vehicle accidents. It is so easy to forget the physics of driving — we drive multi-ton, metal boxes to the grocery store every day, rain or shine. But when you have only tenths of a second to react, the conditions of the road make all the difference. When the roads are icy, many drivers fail to increase their following distance and the result is a massive increase in automobile rear-end collisions. A tip for our readers: when the driver behind you is following too closely, increase your following distance of the car in front of you. This will allow you to brake more slowly in an emergency and compensate for the fact that the driver following you is abdicating his responsibilities.

But it is not just driver error that leads to bad-weather accidents. Hundreds of drivers are hurt every year when car tires malfunction, leading to unpredictable and often uncontrollable movement of the vehicle. Tire-tread separation can lead to devastating crashes, but even a routine flat tire — combined with a slick road — can be a serious hazard. Other forms of mechanical failure can increase the risk of an accident. Many late-model Toyota vehicles sold in Clark County were subjected to a recall last year as a result of uncontrollable acceleration.

We wish all of our readers in the Las Vegas area safe and happy holidays. If anything goes awry during your travels, please contact us once you return for a free consultation and advice on what to do next.

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