Waymo launches nation’s first commercial self-driving taxi service in Arizona.

The AP (12/5, Liedtke) reports Waymo launched its commercial self-driving taxi service, known as Waymo One, in Arizona Wednesday. At first, the service “will only be available to a couple hundred riders, all of whom had already been participating in a free pilot program that began in April 2017.” The service will also be “confined to a roughly 100-square-mile area in and around Phoenix, including the neighboring cities of Chandler, Tempe, Mesa, and Gilbert.”

        Venture Beat (12/5, Sawers, 55K) reports that the self-driving vehicles “will be available round the clock in the Metro Phoenix area, and it is worth noting here that although the cars are fully self-driving, a ‘driver’ will be present in the car at first.” However, Venture Beat states that “Waymo isn’t really pitching these as ‘safety’ drivers as it doesn’t anticipate their having to step in to take control – it’s more about peace of mind for people apprehensive about stepping inside a driverless vehicle.”

        The Arizona Republic (12/5, Randazzo, 903K) reports that “Waymo doesn’t disclose how many of its Chrysler Pacificas are on the road in Arizona but reports 600 in operation nationally.” The Republic notes that the “company also placed orders for 62,000 more Chryslers and 20,000 Jaguar I-Pace electric vehicles this year that it says will be used to expand the ride service in the coming years.”

        Ars Technica (12/5, Lee, 536K) reports that “passengers will hail vehicles with a Waymo One app, which will be available for both iOS and Android phones.” The apps are similar to the ones developed by Uper and Lyft in that it “prompts the user to enter a pickup location and a destination.” The app also “provides estimates of the cost and likely arrival time before the customer books the ride.”

        According to Ars Technica, “fares are based on time and distance, and customers can expect fares to be roughly on par with what you’d pay for an Uber or Lyft trip --perhaps even a bit lower.” For example, Ars Technica’s Timothy B. Lee said that he punched booked a 4.6-mile trip into the Waymo app and was charged $7.32 for the trip. According to the article, Lee “punched the same route into Lyft and Uber apps on Tuesday afternoon and got quotes of $8.29 and $9.38, respectively.”

        The Washington Post (12/4, Laris, 13.51M) reports Costa Samaras, an automation and infrastructure expert at Carnegie Mellon University, said the move is a “big leap between testing this stuff and booking and transporting a passenger who’s paying money for a service.” Samaras said, “The trajectory of the industry, not just at Waymo, is going to depend on a lot of these early experiences. Do people feel safe? Do people feel comfortable? Is it seamless? ... If it is, we’ll see more of it. If not, people will go back to the engineering room.”

Is your Frontal or Side Impact Really an Auto Products Airbag Case?

When airbags work properly, they are critical to preventing injuries and saving lives; however, an airbag that is improperly designed or manufactured can seriously injure or kill innocent people. Faulty airbags can fail in a number of ways, including if the airbag:

• Hit an occupant before being fully inflated.
• Punched out of its storage compartment and strikes an occupant with excessive force.
• Deployed unnecessarily in a minor accident, causing injury that would not have happened otherwise.
• Ruptured and sprayed shrapnel into the vehicle compartment, like the problem with Takata airbags.
• Failed to deploy.
• Had incorrectly calibrated sensors that caused overly aggressive deployment or no deployment at all.

In airbag cases it is important to evaluate whether the airbag caused or enhanced the injury, such as loss of an eye, blindness, head trauma, shrapnel injury, or failed to deploy and prevent a catastrophic head or spinal cord injury.

Defective Auto Seatbacks and Seatback Strength

I was asked the other day by a friend about where to look to find out about information on the strength of driver’s seatback in a rear impact. The unfortunate reality is, there is precious little information available to the public on the performance and strength of seats in rear impacts, and we see all too often the seatback collapsing in a rear impact causing the person to fly into the rear seat and either strike the person sitting in the rear seat or striking their head and neck on the rear seat causing severe head and spinal cord injuries resulting in death or paraplegia. The average driver or front seat passenger do not expect their seats to collapse in a rear impact.

On average, Americans drive about 46 minutes per day, but rarely do people give a second thought to the quality of the auto seat they sit in for nearly an hour a day, even though their safety depends on it. Unfortunately, when vehicle seats are not structurally sound in their design and build, they become dangerous products that fail at the most critical times and cause catastrophic injuries to occupants.

The seat back mechanism in most passenger vehicles on America’s roads and highways is less structurally sound than a lawn chair you can purchase from a discount retailer.

For more than 30 years, injured people and their families – as well as referring attorneys – have turned to Atlee Hall, LLP for help with catastrophic injury cases involving vehicle seat defects. During that time, we have taken on the world’s largest auto product manufacturers in cases involving a range of auto seat defects, including:

• Seat Back Defects. The seat back mechanism in most passenger vehicles on America’s roads and highways is less structurally sound than a lawn chair you can purchase from a discount retailer. If a seat back collapses backward in a rear-impact crash, the seat occupant and passenger in the seat behind can be seriously injured.
• Seat Track Defects. If the force of a rear impact causes the seat tracks to separate, the seat will collapse backward and throw the occupant toward the rear of the vehicle, likely causing head and neck injuries and harm to anyone sitting in the rear seat.
• Seat Recliner failures. The seat recliner is used to adjust the angle of the seatback, often times using a weak single recliner with teeth on a gear mechanism that spate or strip resulting in the seat collapsing and catapulting the occupant into the rear seat.

Anytime someone has sustained a catastrophic head, spinal cord or fatal injury in a rear impact a close examination of the safety performance of the seat must be evaluated.

AP investigation shows thousands of unsafe devices cleared by FDA through streamlined pathway.

In a nearly 3,800-word piece, the AP (11/27) reports the FDA’s declaration it strives to be “first in the world” to approve critical medical devices “mirrored the talking points of the $400 billion medical device industry...and ushered in a series of changes that critics say have allowed manufacturers to seek regulatory approval for high-risk devices using smaller, shorter, less rigorous studies that provide less certainty of safety and effectiveness.” Under Dr. Jeffrey Shuren, director of FDA’s Center for Devices and Radiological Health, “annual new device approvals have more than tripled, while warnings letters to device manufacturers about product safety and quality issues have fallen roughly 80 percent, an Associated Press investigation found.” According to an AP analysis of FDA data, since 2012, “tens of thousands of injury and death reports have been filed in connection with devices that were cleared through a streamlined pathway that minimizes clinical trial testing.” The agency on Monday “proposed changes to the streamlined system that would push manufacturers to incorporate more up-to-date technology into their devices,” but major reforms “could take years to implement.”

NHTSA receives complaints about “death wobble” with Jeep steering wheel.

The Detroit Free Press (11/19, Lawrence, 1.14M) reports the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has begun to closely examine complaints recently made about what Jeep enthusiasts call the “death wobble,” which Fiat Chrysler Automobiles spokesman Mike Palese referred to as “steering system vibration” in an email, in which Palese also said the matter is not “a safety issue.” The Free Press says the “death wobble” occurs “after a vehicle hits a bump at highway speeds and then the steering wheel begins to shake, sometimes ‘violently.’” The NHTSA said it had received 11 complaints regarding the issue during the previous month.

        Carscoops (11/19, Anderson) reports Jeep said the issue can be fixed by, according to Carscoops, “tightening or replacing loose or worn steering parts, balancing or changing the tires, having a front end alignment or by installing a new steering dampener.” In addition, the NHTSA stated the issue occurs irregularly and is predictable so the vehicle can always remain under control. Reps. Anna Eshoo (D-CA) and Henry Waxman (D-CA) sent a joint letter to the NHTSA, in which they asked why consumers had not been informed about the issue, and that the NHTSA must evaluate the problem. Also reporting is Autoblog (11/19, 261K).

CEOs of Kia, Hyundai decide not to attend Senate hearing on burning car incidents.

KXAS-TV Dallas (11/14, 397K) reports that according to the Senate Commerce Committee, a hearing regarding the various burning car incidents across the country involving Kia and Hyundai vehicles has been cancelled because the CEOs, who were expected to testify, decided not to attend the hearing. Hyundai “told [Dallas’] NBC 5 it appreciated the concerns of the Senate Commerce Committee and had engaged in frequent and transparent dialogue with its staff.” Kia “said it will continue to work with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Congress in a full and transparent manner.” KXAS-TV says, “Both Kia and Hyundai are now requesting ‘a more comprehensive review of non-collision fires among all automakers,’ citing research that the fires are not only limited to their cars.” The Center for Auto Safety is “displeased with the CEOs of Kia and Hyundai for ‘refusing’ to show up and testify before U.S. Senators.”

Honda recalling vehicles with front passenger airbag inflators over risk of explosion during crash.

WCBD-TV Charleston, SC (11/13) reports Honda is “recalling certain model year 2010-2012 Accord, 2010-2015 Crosstour, 2010-2011 Civic, 2010-2011 Civic Hybrid, 2010-2011 Civic NGV, 2010-2011 CR-V, 2014 FCX Clarity, 2010-2013 Fit, 2014 Fit EV, 2010-2014 Insight, and 2010-2015 Pilot vehicles.” The “front passenger airbag inflators in the affected vehicles may rupture when deploying during a crash, according to the NHTSA.”