Personal Injury Law

Tire Valve Update

A previous DC Metro Area Personal Injury Law Blog posting discussed Safety Officials Urging Drivers to Inspect Tire Valve Stems Distributed by Dill Air Control. Since then, according to a Detroit Free Press article, a new investigation into Ford Motor Company has been initiated by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), prompting additional warnings.

Anyone who remembers the large death toll that the Ford-Firestone tire malfunction caused, realizes that catching a defect in an auto part early on can be a matter of life and death. According to the Detroit Free Press article, the NHTSA became suspicious of certain tire valve stems and urged drivers to inspect their valves. Now, the NHTSA has initiated an investigation into the safety of tires of 1 million Ford vehicles. This action was taken in response to 37 complaints of low tire pressure from Ford customers. Although none of these complaints have lead to any damages or injuries, if ignored we may start seeing an increase in accidents mentioned in our original valve stem blog.

Topseal, a company that is thought to be producing some of the faulty valves is reported to have 8 million valve stems in distribution per month worldwide. If these valves are found to be considerably dangerous, it is unknown how the products will be able to be recalled.

The following is a list of vehicles that are mentioned by the NHTSA as having possible defective valves:

• Ford F-150
• Mustang
• Edge
• Fusion
• Expedition
• Explorer
• Focus
• Escape
• Mercury Grand Marquis
• MKX
• MKZ
• Milan

The NHTSA is still encouraging everyone to have their tire valves checked but they are especially urging owners of the above vehicles to have their tires inspected. Instructions on how to do so and other information on how to report damaged valves, are listed in the original blog on this topic. Click here to go there now.

Previously on the DC Metro Area Personal Injury Law Blog, we have posted articles related to:

• Safety Officials Urge Drivers to Inspect Tire Valve Stems Distributed by Dill Air Control
• Click It or Ticket: 2008 Seat Belt Campaign In Effect
• Car Safety: Check Your Tires Before You Travel

For information about your legal rights, please click here or call
the law firm of Regan Zambri & Long, PLLC at 202-463-3030.
 

Full post as published by DC Metro Area Personal Injury Law Blog on November 20, 2008 (boomark / email).