Massachusetts senator says highway safety agency "fell down" in GM investigation

Laura Christian's 16-year-old daughter, Amber, died inside a Chevy Cobalt, on July 29, 2005.
"I went downstairs and my phone rang," Christian recalled. "Amber had been in an accident and she didn't make it."
It is the first death linked to General Motor's faulty ignition recall, involving one and a half million GM cars.

A defect in the ignition that can cause the engine to cut off is linked to 31 crashes and 13 deaths."When you lose your daughter whether you're the first one, or whether you're the last one, she's still gone and it's still their fault for not fixing the problem," Christian said.


Now the federal government is investigating whether GM dragged its feet on the recall. But there are also concerns that the government was slow to respond as well.

To read more and see the CBS News video, click here

Lawyer asks feds to force GM to explain recall timing

The federal safety agency officially has been asked to require General Motors to explain why it only now has recalled 619,122 U.S.-market 2005-2007 Chevrolet Cobalt and similar 2007 Pontiac G5 cars to replace faulty ignition switches blamed for at least six deaths.

Documents in a now-settled civil lawsuit against GM show the car company knew of a potential faulty ignition defect leading to engine stalling in 2004, before it launched the 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt.

Federal safety rules mandate that an automaker notify the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration within five business days after the company identifies a safety problem.

"Testimony of GM engineers and documents produced in Melton v. General Motors et. al., show that the automaker actually knew about the defective ignition switch in these vehicles in 2004 before it began selling" the 2005 Chevrolet Cobalt, says the letter to  NHTSA from Lance Cooper, the plantiff's lawyer in the lawsuit.

To read more, click here.

TOYOTA RECALLS 295,000 VEHICLES GLOBALLY

Toyota Motor is recalling about 295,000 Lexus and Toyota brand vehicles worldwide due to issues with various safety systems like stability control and anti-lock brakes.

The automaker said an electrical component in the brake actuator, which regulates fluid pressure in each wheel cylinder, could "experience increased resistance," according to the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

This could increase the chance of a crash since a number of features may not work properly.

To read more, click here.

Graco Recalls Car Seats Over Faulty Buckle

By CHRISTOPHER JENSEN

Graco Children’s Products is recalling almost 3.8 million car seats because faulty buckles can make it hard to free the child in an emergency, the company said on Tuesday.

But federal safety regulators said the recall, the largest in five years, did not go far enough, and have asked for an additional 1.8 million seats to be included because they use the same buckles.

In an unusual move, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration told Graco in a letter that unless those additional seats were fixed it would take legal action to force a recall.

The seats in the recall are the 2009 to 2013 model years of the Cozy Cline, Comfort Sport, Classic Ride 50, My Ride 65, My Ride with Safety Surround, My Ride 70, Size 4 Me 70, Smartseat, Nautilus, Nautilus Elite and Argos 70.

The investigation into the seats began in 2012 after some parents complained to regulators that they had to cut the straps to remove their children.

To read more click here. 

Depuy Hip Implant Settlement

Thousands of ASR patients have been through a very difficult and painful experience. Many have had their ASR device removed and replaced. In the process, they have experienced physical pan and the disability attending both the device and the remedial surgery. Thousands of other patients whose doctors chose the ASR still have the device implanted. 

This settlement, which was finalized today, attempts to address the claims of those ASR patients who have undergone a revision surgery as of August 31, 2013. ASR patients who have yet to undergo a revision surgery maintain all their legal rights.  For patients who have a revision surgery after August 31, 2013, there will be continued work to gather specific medical information following individual recovery. For the many thousands of patients who have not undergone a revision, there will also be continued to work to make sure their rights are protected should a revision become medically necessary.

Johnson & Johnson to pay $2.5 billion to settle hip-implant lawsuits.

News that Johnson & Johnson’s Depuy Orthopaedics Inc. agreed to pay about $2.5 billion to settle thousands of lawsuits allegedly injured by its artificial hip implants was widely covered by the national media Tuesday. Several media outlets said the settlement doesn’t mean J&J’s legal woes are over as it still faces lawsuits over Pinnacle hip implants and vaginal mesh implants. The New York Times (11/20, Meier, Subscription Publication, 9.61M) reports that though Johnson & Johnson agreed to the settlement Tuesday, “it was not clear whether the deal would satisfy enough claimants.” Under the agreement, the medical products firm “would pay nearly $2.5 billion in compensation to an estimated 8,000 patients who have been forced to have the all-metal artificial hip removed and replaced with another device.” The paper says J&J has also agreed to pay “all medical costs related to such procedures,” costs which could increase Johnson & Johnson’s costs to $3 billion.

        The Los Angeles Times (11/19, 3.07M) reports the company agreed to “pay an average of about $250,000 for each surgery and cover related medical costs,” according to Susan Sharko, one of the company’s lawyers. The paper says the firm “recalled 93,000 ASR hip implants worldwide in August 2010, saying 12% failed within five years.”

        The Wall Street Journal (11/20, Rockoff, Subscription Publication, 5.91M) the company’s legal troubles won’t end with this settlement as it still has to grapple with more than 23,000 lawsuits over surgical-mesh products implanted in women in an effort to provide relief from pain in pelvis after childbirth.

        Bloomberg News (11/20, Feeley, Voreacos, 1.91M) provides additional details of the implants, noting that J&J had “touted the metal-on-metal implants, first sold in the U.S. in 2005, as a new design that would last 20 years and offer greater range of motion.” But with rising failures, patients complained “in lawsuits that the metal-on-metal implant caused dislocations, pain and follow-up surgeries known as revisions.” Many claimed that “debris from the chromium and cobalt device” resulted in “tissue death and increased metal ions in the bloodstream.”

        Internal documents allegedly suggest officials were aware of problems since 2008. The AP (11/20, Perrone, Seewer) gives details of the artificial hip, known as the Articular Surface Replacement, or ASR, which was “sold for eight years to some 35,000 people in the U.S. and more than 90,000 people worldwide.” J&J, based in New Brunswick, NJ, “stopped making the product in 2009 and recalled it the next year.” The AP says internal J&J documents “unsealed in the case suggest that company officials were aware of problems with the device at least as far back as 2008.” The article, citing a deposition from a J&J official, says “a 2011 company review of a patient registry concluded that more than one-third of the implants were expected to fail within five years of their implantation.” In general orthopedic hips are expected “to last at least 10 to 20 years.”

        Modern Healthcare (11/19, Lee, Subscription Publication, 224K) says the settlement comes “just weeks after” the company “agreed to pay $2.2 billion to settle allegations that it illegally marketed the antipsychotic drug Risperdal and two other medications.” Dr. Geoffrey Westrich, director of research for the adult reconstruction and joint replacement division at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York, said “patients having problems with the implants generally experience three types of responses.” One group, he says, “clearly” need “revision surgery.” The other group is “not symptomatic or suffering any pain, but MRIs indicate” patients in the group “have adverse tissue reactions and elevated metal ion levels.” They may also need revision surgery. A third group of patients could end up with slightly elevated ion levels and will have to be monitored, reports Modern Healthcare.

        The Financial Times (11/20, Subscription Publication, 1.43M), Reuters (11/20, Dye) and Asbury Park (NJ) Press (11/19, 324K) all cover the news.

Chrysler recalling a million Ram trucks to inspect, possibly fix tie-rod ends.

The AP (11/8) is among the national outlets reporting on Chrysler’s recall of “about 1.2 million Ram trucks to fix front-end problems that could lead to steering troubles,” announced yesterday for three categories of the Ram trucks. The company says only about 453,000 trucks will require repairs following inspections, but a statement yesterday did admit that Chrysler “knows of six crashes and two injuries involving the 2008 to 2012 Ram 2500 and 3500 trucks that are being recalled, and one crash with no injuries from the other recalled models.” Technician error, the company said, is responsible for why “tie-rod ends in the steering system may have been installed improperly,” an issue that can lead to steering problems.

        Also reporting are Reuters (11/8), Bloomberg News (11/8, Clothier, 1.91M), and CNN’s Money (11/8).