The deadline is fast approaching for residential and commercial property owners to report and receive replacements for defective fire sprinklers, recalled in June 2007. The initial recall, which includes a voluntary replacement program, included about 300,000 model J series dry fire sprinklers manufactured by Globe Fire Sprinkler. The recall was announced due to a concern that the sprinklers can deteriorate over time and fail to operate in a fire situation. The deadline for home and commercial property owners to submit a claim and receive replacement sprinkler heads is June 1, 2011.
In February, Ford announced a limited recall of just under 150,000 of its best-selling F150 pickup trucks, citing problems with the front airbags which could cause them to unexpectedly deploy. However, today the auto manufacturer has significantly expanded this recall to include almost 1.2 million vehicles.
Last March, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission voted to interpret the Virginia Graeme Baker Pool and Spa Safety Act, named for a 7-year-old who died in a pool-drain incident in 2002, to no longer require back-up anti-entrapment systems in the drains of as many as 150,000 public and hotel pools and hot tubs. Now the CPSC has announced that the primary anti-entrapment systems on these same pools may have been improperly tested and unsafe.
This morning Toyota is announcing a recall of more than 2 million vehicles in the United States, saying they may pose a danger of the accelerator becoming entrapped in the floor mat. If this story sounds familiar, it should. The latest recall is an expansion of the company's earlier recall for this same problem, which it announced in 2009. This latest recall increases the total number of vehicles recalled by Toyota since 2009 to more than 14 million worldwide.
On Feb. 8, the U.S. Department of Transportation released results of a 10-month study on the suspected cause of Sudden Unintended Acceleration that affected thousands of Toyota vehicles and prompted the recall of more than 8 million various makes and models beginning in late 2009. But lawyers and safety groups investigating claims of accidents, injuries and deaths caused by SUA say the study is incomplete and in no way exonerates Toyota or involvement of its electronic throttle system. The NASA study will not stand up when more exhaustive research is finalized, according to a number of safety groups.
Ford Motor Company recently announced it has expanded its recall of the Ford Windstar minivan due to problems with the rear axle, which can corrode and crack. Ford initially announced a recall of 1998-2003 model year Ford Windstar minivans in August. The recall included 575,000 vans. The recall covers vehicles sold in 21 U.S. States and Canada where heavy road salt can cause the axles to rust. Dec. 6, Ford expanded the recall to include an additional 37,000 vans. The expansion added Utah to the list, where road salt is used in some areas.
Toyota has announced another recall, this time involving more than 1.5 million vehicles worldwide, for problems with brake fluid and fuel pumps. The recall will affect 740,000 cars in the United States. Models affected by the recall in the U.S. include the 2005 and 2006 Avalon, 2004 through 2006 non-hybrid Highlander and Lexus RX330, and 2006 Lexus GS300, IS250 and IS350 vehicles.
Global manufacturing firm Whitesell Corp. has evoked harsh words from the U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis for a multitude of safety and health violations discovered by federal investigators in the company's two northwest Alabama facilities. According to Solis, the violations created dangerous conditions for Whitesell's employees, one of whom had his hand severed by a hydraulic forging press earlier this year.
