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responsibility

Toyota admits that its black-box recorder readers have a software error that can cause wrong speed readings.

SUV’s have warnings that state avoid sudden turns, but don’t define what that is or how you are to avoid them if someone pulls out in front of you, or if a child runs out in front of your car.

Child safety seats were found to be incorrectly installed 75% of the time by NHTSA in 2009.

What do all these have in common? The manufacturers know of a defect or problem, but rather than fix the problem and save lives they continue to try and blame the driver and parent.

The buzzwords “personal responsibility” is something that manufacturers love to throw out when they are discussing a case. The driver needs to take responsibility. The parent needs to take responsibility.

I have an idea. How about the manufacturers start taking responsibility and fix the problems instead of spending millions of dollars on lobbyist, defense attorneys and advertisements in trying to shift the blame. They have known of the problems for years and yet do nothing about them. Stop blaming your customers and look in a mirror. If any other business was having 75% of their customers not using a product correctly they would probably get the hint that they need to change something. The problem for drivers and parents is that the manufacturers are able to blame them because a jury generally only sees that one case, and not the hundreds or thousands of other claims or lawsuits regarding the same issue filed across the country. The manufacturers can imply this was just a freak accident or this one driver just failed to handle the situation. In those rare instances in which the Courts allow the jury to know about the other incidents the juries usually award significant damages. Does the manufacturer admit they did something wrong and vow to correct the problem and apologize to the family? Do they thank the plaintiffs and jury for helping them become aware of a dangerous defect which is maiming and killing people? No. They generally talk about how the jury was misguided and they how they will appeal this miscarriage of justice. Here’s a solution. Take some responsibility, fix the problem, save the families from having to deal with the sorrow of their children, parents and other family members being injured or killed because you choose to ignore a problem.

Thanks to my partner for the idea for this blog topic.

911 Calls

If you are in a wreck you probably know that you can go by and pick up a copy of the crash report, generally within a week of the crash, but did you know that you can also request a copy of any 911 calls made regarding your wreck. To do so you should contact the police department which investigated the wreck and find out where the 911 calls are maintained. You would then call that office and ask them how long they are kept, how you can obtain a copy of the calls and how much it will cost. It might be as simple as providing them with a CD to burn the calls onto or just a minimal charge for copying. You should also request the call log as that may provide you with the numbers of the people who called in who could be potential witnesses. You need to do this quickly as most calls are not kept for any significant period of time.

My Car Crash Case

The book is finally done. After numerous requests, delays, re-writes, etc. The book on how to handle your own car crash case without having to hire an attorney is finished. Yea!! If you would like to get a preview of the contents, etc. or just find out more about it, go to www.mycarcrashcase.com, or just drop me a line.

Brent Carpenter