Product Safety News

February 1, 2008 -

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is urging parents with Evenflo Discovery child safety seat Models 390, 391, 534 and 552 manufactured between April 2005 and January 29, 2008, to immediately check their seats. Evenflo is recalling approximately one million Discovery child safety seats that could fail to adequately protect children in a high impact side collision. The model numbers and date of manufacture are located on a white label at the bottom of the car seat. The Discovery car seat is designed with a convenience base that attaches to the vehicle's seat and allows the seat to be attached or removed from the vehicle without removing the base. Tests conducted by NHTSA and the Evenflo company have found that this car seat has the potential to separate from its base. Owners of the affected seats can contact Evenflo toll-free at 1-800-356-2229.

January 3, 2008 -

The Electronic Stability Program (ESP) is the trade name of the Mercedes Benz version of Electronic Stability Control (ESC) or computer aided driving. Other car manufacturers have different names for it, Cadillac calls it StabiliTrak. It is a computer that takes over control of the vehicle when the vehicles path is not what the driver intended it to be. Computer aided driving is not new. ABS and Traction Control, which are forms of computer aided driving, have been around for a while and add a great deal to the safety of a vehicle. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration thinks enough of the device that it will require that all future passenger vehicles have ESC as standard equipment by 2012. Some car manufacturers, like Ford Motor Company, have announced they will have Electronic Stability Control standard on all consumer-version of Ford, Lincoln and Mercury cars and trucks by the end of 2009. It's no exaggeration to say that stability control is the biggest automotive safety advancement since ABS and airbags. The value of ESC is that it interprets information, in most cases, before the average driver or even the above average driver can sense the problem. Once the ESC computer reads the information it starts to set the car on the correct path before we can figure out what's going on.

December 22, 2007 -

General Motors Corp. recalled more than 313,000 Saturn, Pontiac and Cadillac vehicles around the globe to fix a rear-axle seal that may leak and cause the cars to lose control and crash. In the United States, the recall covers 275,936 Saturn Sky, Pontiac Solstice and Cadillac CTS, CTS-V, SRX, STS and STS-V vehicles from the 2005-07 model years, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Web site. It is GM's biggest domestic recall in 2007. A fluid leak in the rear-axle pinion seal may cause the vehicles' rear differential to lock up, possibly causing a loss of control, GM said in a Dec. 19 letter to NHTSA. According to GM, two crashes were reported; one involved an injury. The recall stems from a preliminary inquiry that NHTSA began in July after receiving 20 reports from motorists of rear differential failures. Almost all the complaints cited the back wheels of the vehicles locking up, the agency said.

September 5, 2007 -

U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary E. Peters announced new side impact safety requirements for all passenger vehicles. It is expected that the upgrade, developed by DOT’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), will save hundreds of lives every year. The new standard requires auto manufacturers – for the first time ever – to provide head protection in side-impact crashes. It also would enhance other protections for passengers involved in such crashes. Side-impact passenger vehicle crashes are a serious – and frequently severe – safety problem on the nation’s roadways. Side impact crashes account for 28 percent of all fatalities, the majority of which involve a brain injury. NHTSA estimates that the new requirements will save over 300 lives and prevent nearly 400 serious injuries per year.

February 20, 2007 -

Amid growing safety concerns, one of the largest tire manufacturers has decided to stop selling used tires at company-owned stores. Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire recently told its 2,200 retail stores to stop selling used tires, while the Rubber Manufacturers Association for the first time sent a service bulletin warning that "used passenger and light truck tires that have an uncertain or unknown history pose a potential risk." Bridgestone Firestone North American Tire LLC, the Nashville-based subsidiary of the Japanese tiremaker, said Friday its chief operating officer, Bill Perdew, had told its outlets to stop selling used tires immediately. According to Bridgestone, it was a small percentage of the company’s business. NHTSA has been conducting tests on new tires to determine their durability and may pursue a test this year to simulate aging. NHTSA rewrote its tire safety performance requirements in 2003, increasing the stringency of the existing high speed and endurance tests for tires. BMW AG, Ford Motor Co., DaimlerChrysler AG, Toyota Motor Corp. and Volkswagen AG have backed guidelines that tires should only be in service for six years.

February 2, 2007 -

Electronic Safety Control (ESC) is touted as one of the most significant safety advancement in years, and its addition as a safety feature on new vehicle increases with each passing year. ESC refers to vehicle technologies that help drivers maintain control of their vehicle during emergency steering maneuvers by keeping the vehicle headed in the driver's intended direction.

February 1, 2007 -

Congress has been urged by numerous safety advocates and a distinguished list of Senators, including Hillary Rodham Clinton and John Sununu, to immediately pass the Cameron Gulbransen Kids and Cars Safety Act of 2007. The bill is notable as it asks the U.S. Secretary of Transportation to issues regulations to decrease the incident of child injuries and death. Since 2000, over 1,000 children have been killed in non-traffic accidents, and the bill seeks to address these hazards by seeking regulations to address safety issues such as children being backed over by vehicles, strangled by power windows, or injured when a vehicle inadvertently moves. The proposals include: ensuring power windows automatically reverse direction when they detect an obstruction to prevent children from being trapped and injured; providing drivers with a means of detecting the presence of a person or object behind their vehicle; providing for the vehicle service brake to be engaged to prevent vehicles from inadvertently moving or rolling; and establishing a child safety information program to collect non-traffic incident data and disseminate information to parents about the dangers that exist.

February 1, 2007 -

GM has recalled its new 2007 Saturn Outlook and GMC Acadia full-size CUVs for potentially faulty airbag sensors. The problem is reportedly software related, meaning it can be fixed with a trip to the dealer, and effects every unit sold since they went on sale in December. Letters went out February 22nd to owners of the Saturn Outlook and will be sent on February 28th for GMC Acadia owners. The recall was not mandated by NHTSA, rather it was initiated by GM after the problem was discovered internally. The potentially faulty sensor in question controls the front airbags; deployment.

February 1, 2007 -

A leading auto safety group is calling for used tire dealers and wholesalers to adopt stricter standards to inspect the millions of tires they sell to motorists every year. The sale of used tires is largely unregulated, and each year worn, previously repaired or poorly maintained tires cause countless accidents, many of them ending in fatalities, safety advocates say. Used tires have been the subject of growing concern by automakers and safety advocates. In December, 2006, Sean Kane, president of Safety Research & Strategies, submitted details about 108 accidents linked to tread separation of tires more than 6 years old to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Those accidents resulted in 85 deaths. Unfortunately, nationwide statistics are not available, but NHTSA has been conducting tests on new tires to determine their durability and may pursue a test this year to simulate aging. The agency will begin requiring manufacturers to print the manufacture date on tires beginning in September 2009. To date, BMW AG, Ford Motor Co., DaimlerChrysler AG, Toyota Motor Corp. and Volkswagen AG have backed guidelines that tires should only be in service six years.

July 27, 2006 -

Clark County Fire Department rescue unit responded to a home inside the city at 4:45PM Thursday afternoon after a toddler fell into a backyard swimming pool on the southwest side of the city.

July 15, 2005 -

An 11-month-old Katy girl has died, a week after crawling through a pet door and falling into a swimming pool at her family's home, authorities said.

February 28, 2005 -

A 4-year-old boy drowned Sunday after crawling through a doggie door and making his way to a swimming pool, Hillsborough County Sheriff's deputies say.

May 1, 2003 -

State police are calling the drowning of a toddler in a Scott Depot backyard pool a "terrible accident."

January 19, 2003 -

Investigators believe the little boy in Fort Bragg, N.C. wandered away from family members at around 1:00 p.m. and was able to crawl through a pet door that leads into the pool area.

February 13, 2001 -

A 14-month-old girl who was found floating face down in her family's pool Saturday evening apparently gained access to the water by crawling through a "doggie door" at the family's house.

July 16, 1999 -

An 18-month old boy drowned Thursday in a day care's backyard swimming pool.

June 9, 1999 -

A Fort Bend County toddler who drowned in his family's pool apparently slipped out of the house through a pet door, authorities said Tuesday.

March 7, 1999 -

I'm writing to relate our tragic story in the hope that other lives may be saved. Last May, our beautiful 2-year-old nephew drowned in the backyard pool. 

February 17, 1999 -

An 18-month-old girl fell into a swimming pool Tuesday after getting out of her home through a doggie door.

January 21, 1999 -

I am writing to call your attention to a little-known danger to some children. On May 18, 1998, my 2 1/2 -year-old nephew, he crawled through the family pet's door, jumped into the swimming pool and drowned.

October 17, 1997 -

While his family slept Thursday, an 18-month-old Ruskin boy crawled through the doggie door of his home and into a backyard swimming pool, Hillsborough County sheriff's officials said.

October 22, 1996 -

He was just learning to walk, but police say the 11-month-old probably crawled through a doggy door in his grandparents' home Sunday before falling into their backyard swimming pool.

August 11, 1995 -

Autopsy results released Thursday have determined that a 16-month-old toddler drowned, apparently after crawling through a dog door of an Arleta home and falling into a spa, authorities said.

April 16, 1995 -

An 18-month-old Orlando boy was in critical condition late Saturday at Florida Hospital South after falling into a swimming pool at his grandmother's house, authorities said.

March 9, 1993 -

In the second incident, a 15-month-old boy was in critical condition after being pulled from the bottom of his swimming pool in Margate. A relative found little boy in the pool about 11:45 a.m., Margate Fire Department spokesman Capt. Garrison Westbrook said.