Is Agent Orange Affecting Fort Detrick Water Pollution Problem?

Posted on November 30, 2010 by Greenberg & Bederman

The war in Vietnam seems occurred a long time ago. But for those who actually participated, we are willing to bet that they don’t view it as ancient history. There are still Vietnam veterans in America who have had difficulty coping with their experiences. Exposure to the extreme dangers of combat is not something that can be easily shrugged off. American soldiers returning from Iraq and Afghanistan are proving that premise to still be true.

But the Vietnam War was different for a few reasons. Many veterans of that conflict brought back injuries that were neither psychological, nor were they of the sort that are consistent with combat. Many soldiers suffered from a disproportionately high rate of throat cancer, lung cancer, liver cancer, prostate cancer and soft tissue sarcoma. Many of them found that their wives were suffering from miscarriages, or that their children were being born with birth defects.

To be sure, these things can and do happen to many people, regardless of whether they served in Vietnam or not, but it is worth noting that among Vietnam veterans who took part in a military effort named “Operation Ranch Hand,” the numbers of cancer and birth defects is incredibly high.

Operation Ranch Hand was the name given to a military program in which chemical herbicides and defoliants were sprayed over the jungles of Vietnam. The purpose of spraying these chemicals was to remove the habitat, cover and support system of the Viet Cong, and to force them into the cities, where the Vietnamese population was generally less supportive of the guerilla forces or North Vietnam in general. Between 1962 and 1971, over 20 million gallons of herbicides were sprayed over the jungles in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.

 

While the chemicals involved certainly did their job, they also wreaked havoc on the rural civilian population of Vietnam. Tens of thousands of civilians died early of cancer, and tens of thousands of children were born seriously deformed. And among the helicopter pilots, vehicle loaders and Special Forces units who handled the herbicide, the rate of cancer and birth defects skyrocketed.

There were two sorts of chemicals that were used to defoliate the jungles of Southeast Asia. One was called Agent Blue, but the chemical that was deemed the most effective and therefore saw the most use was called Agent Orange.

The Vietnam War was close to 40 years ago, and Southeast Asia is practically on the other side of the world, but if you think that the use of Agent Orange by the United States is not something that you should be concerned with, you should think again. Particularly if you live in the Baltimore-Washington area.

Frederick News-Post, 11/18/10: The Army sprayed about 17 pounds of a main Agent Orange ingredient on sections of Fort Detrick between 1944 and 1968, an official announced at a meeting Wednesday night. Randal Curtis, program manager for the St. Louis district of the Army Corps of Engineers, presented the preliminary Archives Search Report to the Fort Detrick Restoration Advisory Board. The findings were based on technical reports, standard operating procedures, lab notes, maps and photos uncovered in archive and records locations around the country. Curtis' office was tasked with sifting through these documents for any information on 2,4,5-T, one of two main ingredients in Agent Orange.

According to the preliminary report, Fort Detrick was the headquarters of the Chemical Warfare Service's special projects division during and after World War II, making it a hub for offensive and defensive biological research and development. 2, 4, 5-T was tested at Fort Detrick in three main time periods: 1944-1951, 1953 and 1961-1963.

As you can probably infer from that story, Agent Orange was not the only chemical that was tested on the grounds of Fort Detrick. But Agent Orange was sprayed into the ground, and the harmful effects of this chemical is well documented. And if you consider that Fort Detrick is currently the site of Army medical research, and that it used to be the headquarters of the Army biological and chemical weapons program, you can well imagine that the health of the surrounding residents is probably considerably worse than those who do not live near there.

The EPA has designated Fort Detrick a Superfund Cleanup Site, which means that in terms of the level of toxic waste and the potential harm that this place can do to the environment and the health of people around the area, its cleanup is an absolute priority. But that is small consolation to those who have already gotten sick, or worse. Frederick County is currently determining whether or not the surrounding area will officially be designated a cancer cluster, but even if they determine that it is not, it is impossible to imagine that sixty years of chemical and biological weapons testing and medical waste dumping had no effect on the groundwater or air quality for nearby residents.

Greenberg and Bederman is currently offering legal help for residents around Fort Detrick, Maryland who have suffered from unexplained illnesses, including birth defects, throat cancer, lung cancer, prostate cancer or other serious diseases. We believe that the groundwater and air around Fort Detrick has been responsible for a high level of diseases and illnesses, and it is our hope that we can secure compensation for the victims. If you or a loved one has been affected by the pollution near Fort Detrick, contact Greenberg & Bederman for a free legal consultation. 
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Mazda 3 Model Years 2004-2007 Defects Lead To Thefts

Posted on November 5, 2010 by Greenberg & Bederman

A Message for Current and Former Mazda 3 Owners

Do you own a Mazda 3 from the model years 2004-2007? If so, you may be the owner of a faulty product. These models may have a defect that allows the doors to be unlocked simply by kicking or driving a shoulder into a section above the door handle.

This defect has left the personal property of tens of thousands of Mazda owners vulnerable to theft. Furthermore, there is evidence that Mazda knew about this defect and failed to act quickly to resolve the problem. As a result, personal property has been taken, and many cars have either been vandalized or stolen.

The Defect: The door lock mechanism in thousands of Mazdas sold in Canada has been shown to be defective. Potential thieves did not need a skeleton key or any other tool to open the door. The problem was a combination of factors, mainly involving low strength in the “skin” of the door, a lack of structural support between the door skin and the key lock barrel and door lock module, and a structural door lock design that requires a downward motion to disengage the lock. In other words, the locking mechanism was built in a way that allows the individual parts to be jarred out of alignment quite easily.

The Costs: It did not take long for thieves to figure out that this defect existed, and they began to exploit it very quickly. Police in Canada became aware that many Mazda 3’s that had been broken into had similar telltale marks over the driver-side door handle. Personal effects were stolen out of vehicles and cars were vandalized, and initially, Mazda denied that there was a problem at all. Eventually a recall was negotiated with Mazda, and while they offered free or rebated repairs to fix the problem, they still made no offer to reimburse anyone for any stolen or damaged property that was taken or vandalized specifically due to the inherent defect of the locking mechanism.

 

The Issue: Although the defect and its subsequent instances of personal property loss were bad enough, that is only part of the problem here. Mazda manufactured, marketed and sold a product that was not safe and secure, even as they were claiming otherwise in advertisements, marketing materials and sales pitches at auto dealerships. They continued to do this even after they knew about the defect. This resulted in people buying cars that they otherwise would not have purchased if they had all of the necessary information. Mazda left out a very important piece of information when selling the vehicle, and people who bought this car were unable to take precautions against possible negative effects because they didn’t know that this problem existed. In fact, only three categories of people knew that there was a problem with the locks: Thieves, police and Mazda executives and dealers.  This defect has resulted in class action lawsuits against Mazda.

What We Are Doing: Greenberg and Bederman is a law firm based in the Washington, D.C. area, and we are currently investigating compensation claims against Mazda on behalf of consumers who purchased these defective vehicles. We are offering legal assistance and we are filing class action lawsuits on behalf of those who had their cars broken into or stolen, and we are also offering assistance to consumers who were not told about the lock defect when they purchased the car. If you or a loved one is a current or former owner of a Mazda 3 between the model years of 2004 to 2007, please contact Greenberg and Bederman for a free legal consultation today.

 
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Toyota Engineers On The Job?

Posted on April 16, 2010 by Greenberg & Bederman

 

Believe it or not, there used to be a time when Toyota had a reputation for manufacturing safe and reliable cars. That certainly seems like a long time ago, what with all of the crashes and deaths and injuries. But there was a time when people used to get into Toyota model cars without having to worry about dangerous floor mats, bad brakes, stuck accelerators and faulty steering.

To be sure, the crash ratings for these cars were mostly average. But in fairness, they were no better or no worse than many of the other cars that were out on the market. Toyotas in the 90s and in most of the first decade of the twentieth century were no better or worse than Hondas, Chevys, Chryslers or Nissans in terms of safety.

So while they weren’t exactly up to the high safety standards of say, Saab or Volvo, they were at least well within established safety requirements.

 

 

We aren’t sure what went wrong with Toyota. Every car manufacturer has safety recalls, some major and some minor, but we have never seen so many things go so drastically wrong on so many models from the same company at the same time. It wasn’t just that one model had problems with floor mats jamming the accelerator pedal in one model. Or it wasn’t that just one model had a few accelerator pedals stick in the down position. This was a systematic failure of multiple cars. It was as if the entire Toyota Corporation all took a vacation at the same time and missed some very important meetings.

It was a failure of the engineering developers to not notice that the accelerator pedal was sticking. It was a failure of the design team to not notice that the floor mats were causing the pedals in other models to stick. It was another failure of the engineering team to not notice that there was an inconsistency in braking and steering when the Prius shifted between the electric and gas motor.

It was a failure of the company to “negotiate” a lesser recall with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which might have saved Toyota millions in costs, but cost hundreds of people pain, money, time, and in some cases, their lives.

It was only a matter of time before all of these failures caught up with Toyota. There were too many bizarre and high profile accidents involving Toyota for the government to ignore. One recall came after another, and the Capitol Hill testimony of both crash victims and the President of Toyota itself did practically irreparable damage to the Toyota brand.

So you would think that after all of this, the Toyota Corporation has learned its lesson, right?

Apr 15, 2010: Toyota now says it will investigate its entire SUV lineup for safety problems uncovered by Consumer Reports earlier this week. 

The automaker announced Tuesday it would stop selling the 2010 Lexus GX 460 temporarily as it looks into handling problems that could make it unsafe.

Consumer Reports said the Lexus GX 460 slides around too much when drivers lift their foot off the gas pedal while negotiating around a tight curve. The vehicle can actually slide sideways, Consumer Reports says, which could result in the SUV hitting a curb or leaving the road.

Right on the heels of the worst year in Toyota’s history, yet another completely unsafe vehicle is put out on the market. It is a bad sign when the staff at Consumer Reports catches a potential major safety hazard before the engineering department at a major automobile manufacturer does. It appears that whatever overhauls that were promised by Toyota during the recalls and hearings on Capitol Hill have yet to take place.

Greenberg and Bederman is a Washington, D.C. area injury law firm that helps those who have been hurt due to no fault, or negligence,  of their own. The recent Toyota malfunctions have injured thousands of people all over the country, including people in Washington, Virginia and Maryland. If you or a loved one has been injured due to a Toyota that did not work as it should have, contact Greenberg & Bederman for a free toyota injury legal consultation today.

To learn more about personal injury law, please read our personal injury lawyer page, or watch our personal injury lawyer videos.

 
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Is NHTSA Doing Enough To Help Toyota Accident Victims?

Posted on April 8, 2010 by Greenberg & Bederman

To say that Toyota has “let down” its customers understates the impact of their actions. If your pizza is delivered in over thirty minutes, you can say that the pizza place “let you down.” If a suit that you bought falls apart after only wearing it three times, then you can say that your tailor “let you down.” But if the accelerator of your Prius sticks and you end up barreling through a stop light, hit another car and are seriously injured or worse, saying “Toyota let me down” doesn’t really cover it.

From what has been uncovered so far, it appears that the Toyota Corporation has marketed and sold cars with multiple defects in acceleration, steering and braking systems, and it appears that they were aware or should have been aware of these defects and did nothing about it, causing multiple injuries and death. 

So what would be the appropriate response from the government and Toyota itself? First and foremost would be a propersafety recall, and not one that is merely financially convenient to the Toyota Corporation, but rather one that actually fixes the problems that make these cars dangerous. Toyota has done that, issuing recalls on practically every model that they have on the market.

Second would be full disclosure. Toyota should be more forthcoming with their crash data and reports than they currently are. Allowing this data to be independently analyzed would go a long way in not just determining the problems, but would also help Toyota avoid making these mistakes in the future. It is sometimes much harder to see your own errors, especially when there is a financial incentive to not see them.

Toyota should be responsible financially for the injuries and damages that they’ve caused. If someone has been killed or injured in a Toyota, someone has to pay the medical bills. For a large corporation like Toyota, the only way for them to actually feel the weight of what they have done is to make them responsible for the injuries and damages they’ve caused.   If a spouse who is counting on income suddenly is left alone due to an acceleration defect car accident, how will that spouse be able to survive financially? Is it fair to the surviving spouse to have to figure it out alone? Toyota should be held accountable for that loss of income. Doing so would not only give Toyota every reason to clean up its act, but it would also serve as an example to other automakers who are  manufacturing cars that are shown to be unsafe.

With that principle in mind, we feel that the fine of $16 million that the NHTSA recently levied against Toyota to be a good start in the right direction but falls quite short for the injured and killed, especially considering that Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood issued a statement saying that the release of these defective automobiles was no accident:

“We now have proof that Toyota failed to live up to its legal obligations,” said LaHood on Monday. “Worse yet, they knowingly hid a dangerous defect for months from U.S. officials and did not take action to protect millions of drivers and their families.”

Even after the costs of issuing the recalls, Toyota still remains a wealthy corporation.  $16 million is not even a dent in their coffers. This is hardly the incentive needed to get them to improve its faulty vehicles, and compensate the injured or killed.

It appears that the only way to make this automotive giant accountable for its actions is for the victims to take their cases to the courts. If the NHTSA will not stand up and demand substantive penalties from Toyota, those who have been injured or have lost family members due to this act of negligence will have to do so themselves.

Greenberg and Bederman is a Washington, D.C. area personal injury law firm that is currently offering legal assistance to those who have been injured due to malfunctioning Toyotas. This includes drivers of faulty Toyotas, passengers who were riding in faulty Toyotas, drivers in other cars who were hit by faulty Toyotas, and cyclists, motorcyclists or pedestrians who were injured due to malfunctioning Toyotas. Our personal injury attorneys have decades of experience in both auto accidents and product liability, and accidents involving these malfunctioning Toyotas fall under both of those legal categories.

If you or a loved one has been injured due to an accident with a Toyota, contact Greenberg and Bederman for a free Toyota Accident legal consultation today.

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NASA May Help Solve Toyota Accelerator Defect

Posted on April 1, 2010 by Greenberg & Bederman

If you need brainpower in the United States of America, you can’t do much better than the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Since it’s beginning in 1958, NASA has been responsible for any and all space exploration undertaken by the United States. That includes the first manned multiple orbit of the earth, the first manned flight around the moon, the first landing on the moon, the first satellite to leave our solar system, the first re-usable manned spacecraft, and any manner of advancements in satellite technology.

Anything involving spaceflight takes a mastery of multiple scientific disciplines. There has to be a mastery of chemistry (rocket fuel and lubricants, to name only a few applications,) physics (launching the spacecraft and keeping on a correct trajectory,) biology and environmental sciences (keeping the astronauts alive during the mission,) To give you an idea as to how impressive the minds are over at NASA, consider what had to be done for each of the Apollo lunar missions.

 

The vehicle that the astronauts were travelling in had to essentially break in half, and then one of the two sections had to do a 180 degree turn, and then gently thrust back towards the other section, where they re-attached. Bear in mind that this had to be done while they were travelling through the vacuum of space at thousands of miles an hour. Another stunning feat was the reattachment of the lunar module, which essentially launched itself from the surface of the moon (with two astronauts inside) and attached itself to the orbit module which was zooming along at thousands of feet above the surface. If you want a real life equivalent of how difficult that is, try hitting a bird flying overhead with a rock. If you also consider that these amazing things were done in the late sixties, which was practically the Stone Age in terms of computer technology, that gives you an idea as to how smart the NASA people are.

Any endeavor into outer space has to involve all manner of computers. All of the systems on any spacecraft are run by them, including steering, thrust, life support and navigation. Without the advent of computers, it would be impossible for us to imagine getting into space at all. If you consider that your average space craft is run by electronic systems that are often controlled from thousands (sometimes hundreds of thousands) of miles away, you would have to assume that NASA knows what it is doing when it comes to computers.

This is why we consider it a good thing that Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood has brought in scientists from NASA to investigate the recent alleged unintended acceleration incidents that have occurred in so many Toyota vehicles. The NASA scientists are specialists in computer controlled electronic systems, electromagnetic interference, software integrity and hardware. In other words, they are the folks who you can expect to get to the bottom of what has been going wrong.

It might seem a little drastic, bringing in space shuttle mechanics to examine the inner workings of a Toyota Tercel, but one of the reasons that they have to be drastic is that Toyota itself isn’t talking. They are fiercely protective of their design and data, and are equally tight lipped when it comes to allowing crash data to be studied. Part of this might be because they are genuinely concerned about somebody making off with proprietary software or design, but we suspect it also has something to do with Toyota not wanting to directly provide any evidence of culpability on their parts. In other words, they want to make it as difficult as possible for any victims of random accelerations, brake failures or steering problems to be fairly compensated for their injuries and damaged property.

Toyota has shown a willingness to put profits over driver safety before. In what was probably one of the darkest moments in government consumer protection history, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration allowed Toyota to “negotiate” a 2007 recall that was limited to defective floor mats rather than move forward with a more extensive recall that could have possibly saved quite a few lives. Internal documents from Toyota referred to this as a “win.”  

 

We aren’t sure what the outcome will be of this NASA investigation, but what we are sure of is that too many people have been injured or even killed due to defective Toyotas for this to be considered a random, freak occurrence. Based on the evidence that has been gathered and the incidents that have been reported, we believe that Toyota not only put out a defective product, but also were aware of these defects and the dangers that they posed to the general public.

Greenberg and Bederman is a Washington, D.C. based injury law firm that is currently offering legal assistance to those who have been hurt due to Toyota malfunctions. We can help anyone in Maryland, Virginia, or Washington, D.C.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a Toyota accident, contact Greenberg and Bederman for a free legal consultation today.

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Toyota Recalls and the Little Black Box

Posted on March 16, 2010 by Greenberg & Bederman

 Plane crashes are taken quite seriously in this country. It doesn’t matter if the crash involved a crop dusting, single propeller plane or if it involved a 747 jumbo jet. Any time a plane goes down, agents of the National Transportation Safety Board are dispatched to the scene. They aren’t just there to clean up the wreck. They are there to examine every aspect of the crash, and one of the first things that they look for is “The Black Box.”

“The Black Box” (which is actually orange in color) is the nickname for the Flight Data Recorder, which records quite literally everything that goes on in a plane. It records cockpit conversations, air speed, height, which controls were used, what actions were taken by the crew, and every conceivable action that takes place during the course of a flight. It is this data that helps the NTSB determine whether or not the plane crashed due to an equipment malfunction, or weather conditions, or pilot error.

 Believe it or not, most cars also have similar versions of the “black box.” They go by the name “Event Data Recorders,” and while they are not nearly as all encompassing as the recorders that you find on planes, they are still valuable tools for determining what causes automobile accidents.

The vast majority of car manufacturers make the data in their EDR’s as accessible as possible. Allowing the police, insurance companies and even the press to see the results of the data after an accident can prove to be a good thing. You could determine any number of variables with the information from these recorders. You could determine how fast the car was going before it crashed, or if the brakes were applied suddenly. You could determine where the car got hit or if it hit something first. And, most importantly, you could determine whether or not everything in the car involved in the accident was working as it should have.

EDR’s have occupied a certain prominence in the news lately, mainly because it appears that Toyota is not and has not been entirely forthcoming with the data that appears in their EDR’s. And considering that Toyotas have been undergoing critical and dangerous malfunctions, that data could be considered very important.

The past few months have seen practically every model that Toyota manufactures being recalled due to serious malfunctions. Accelerator pedals have stuck to the floor or have been pinned under defective floor mats, brakes have been periodically unresponsive, and even the steering in some models has been faulty. According to the NHTSA, 52 people have died over the years due to malfunctions of these types. These were problems that could have been brought to the public’s attention and possibly rectified well before 52 people died and countless others had been injured, but since Toyota has a policy of not letting anyone see the information that is contained in these EDR’s, everyone simply made the assumption that the occasional stuck accelerator problem was a freak occurrence rather than a systemic problem.

Toyota does not share the information on their EDR’s on the grounds that they are using proprietary software and sensors and monitoring devices. This would be a perfectly valid line of argument if there were a huge black market for EDR software. But your average car accident victim (as well as the companies that insure them) is more interested in the data than any of the proprietary software in the EDR. The fact that Toyota doesn’t let anyone see any of that data is suspicious to say the least.

According to a recent article by the Associated Press, the EDR’s in Toyota are so inaccessible that there is only one laptop in the entire continental United States that is able to access Toyota EDR’s. And on the few occasions when Toyota has been forced to provide data from an EDR after a wreck, they have either quickly come to a financial settlement in order to avoid showing it, or they have provided incomplete data.

If you combine this behavior with the fact that Toyota executives recently negotiated a less serious recall with the NHTSA in 2007 in order to save money, it’s very easy to come to the conclusion that Toyota has been well aware of these deficiencies in their cars for quite some time. And, despite being aware of these deficiencies, they did nothing to repair their Toyota recall problems until highly publicized accidents left them with no choice but to initiate the recalls. 

If that is indeed the case, then Toyota could be found guilty of negligence. If Toyota knew that there were problems with their cars, it was their responsibility to initiate a recall as soon as possible. Hiding the data and covering up what was really wrong was the most irresponsible thing that they could have done.

Greenberg and Bederman is a Washington, D.C. personal injury law firm that is currently offering legal assistance to people who have been injured due to Toyotas that malfunctioned. Toyota Recall cases like these often fall under the heading of both car accidents and product liability, and our attorneys have decades of experience in both areas. Our main office is in Silver Spring but we serve accident victims in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area and the Baltimore, Maryland region. We can help injury victims in Maryland, Virginia and Washington, D.C.

If you or a loved one has been injured in a toyota recall accident, contact Greenberg and Bederman for a free legal consultation today.

 
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Toyota Prius Recall

Posted on February 23, 2010 by Greenberg & Bederman

Toyota Prius Brake Issues

Hot on the heels of the acceleration issues that have affected so many Toyota models, it now appears that there is a new problem with its most popular model. According to the Montreal Gazette, Toyota has ordered a recall of 437,000 of their Prius models. The problem appears to involve the software that controls the braking system.

Just as the Prius has two methods of acceleration (battery power for idling or low speeds in the city, traditional internal combustion for highway driving,) it also has two methods of braking. The Prius uses what is called regenerative braking at low speeds, and switches to regular hydraulic braking once the driver switches to higher speeds. Apparently there is a lag when the two braking systems switch places. According to a Toyota representative, the lag lasts between .2 and .3 seconds, but when you consider how quickly traffic accidents can occur, the time between .2 and .3 seconds can seem like a very long time indeed.

We aren’t really sure what has happened over at Toyota these past few months. It seems that there has been one problem after another, and these problems are far from simply cosmetic. So far Toyota has issued recalls on almost every model that they have available on the market. There have been recalls for gas pedals being trapped under the floor mat, gas pedals sticking in the acceleration position, and now there are issues involving the brakes. We want to reiterate that these problems are not cosmetic. These problems involve the cars either accelerating beyond control or being unable to stop, neither of which is an acceptable option.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has issued the following advice for Toyota drivers who experience unintended acceleration:

  • Brake firmly and steadily – do not pump the brake pedal.
  • Shift the transmission into Neutral (for vehicles with automatic transmissions and the sport option, familiarize yourself with where Neutral is – the diagram may be misleading).
  • Steer to a safe location.
  • Shut the engine off (for vehicles with keyless ignition, familiarize yourself with how to turn the vehicle off when it is moving – this may be a different action than turning the vehicle off when it is stationary).
  • Call your dealer or repair shop to pick up the vehicle. Do not drive it.

These suggestions are all well and good, but they seem like the sort of tips that will leave your brain the instant your car speeds up when you don’t want it to, or won’t stop when you want it to stop. We can’t help but think that it would have been better if Toyota had not had such a catastrophic failure in their engineering department, and that way drivers all over America wouldn’t have to remember any “just in case” tips at all.

The Washington, D.C. area and the entire Mid-Atlantic region just went through a massive snow storm, and as a result we can expect our roads to be difficult to drive on for the foreseeable future. This is hardly the optimal time for your brakes to not work or for your car to suddenly accelerate. What we would recommend is to check the Toyota website on a regular basis to see if your car is on the recall list, and if it is, make sure that you bring it in for the necessary repairs without delay. While a knob that falls off the radio or a power window switch that doesn’t work is something that you might be able to put off, anything involving brakes or acceleration should be handled immediately.

This Toyoya recall is a dangerous situation for drivers and pedestrians all over the country, and it is also a rather unique one. This might be one of the few instances where an accident can happen between two cars or a car and a pedestrian, yet it is possible that nobody involved is actually at fault. A driver can hardly take full responsibility for an accident if his car did malfunctioned in a dangerous way. In situations involving automotive malfunctions that stem from design flaws, the only entity really at fault is the company that made the flawed system to begin with.

On the surface, these cases might appear to be cut and dried, but if the accident involves multiple cars or people, you can be sure that any litigation will be very complex. In order to secure fair compensation for your injuries and lost or damaged property, it is crucial that you obtain attorneys who have a great deal of experience in both car accident cases and product liability cases.

Greenberg and Bederman have been helping injury victims in the Washington. D.C. area since 1985, and our practice has been built on getting decent and fair compensation for our clients. We have attorneys with decades of winning experience in both product liability and car accident cases, and can certainly help you with your Toyota accident claim.

If you or a loved one has been injured due to faulty brakes or sudden rapid acceleration in a Toyota, contact Greenberg and Bederman for a free legal consultation today.

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Toyota Recall

Posted on February 9, 2010 by Greenberg & Bederman

 Have you been injured in Washington, D.C. because of a Toyota malfunction? Greenberg and Bederman can help.

Over the years, Toyota has developed a reputation as manufacturers of safe and dependable cars. This is why the two recalls that have occurred over the past four months have been so unusual.

In August of 2009, Toyota issued a recall of 3.8 million Toyota and Lexus models worldwide due to approximately 2000 cases of unexplained acceleration. In these instances, drivers reported their cars accelerating to speeds up to 100 mph, even while they were applying the brakes.

Toyota initially blamed the problem on improperly sized floor mats. Toyota claimed that the mats got jammed underneath the accelerator pedal and caused them to get stuck. The floor mats were replaced, but there were still incidents of acceleration problems even after the floor mats were replaced.

Toyota recently admitted that the problems went much deeper than defective floor mats, and has ordered the recall of some eight million cars worldwide. Bear in mind, car recalls happen with great frequency, and they often happen for quite mundane reasons. A faulty button on the stereo or power locks that short out on occasion are enough of a reason to bring thousands of cars back to the factory. But there is an enormous difference between a minor manufacturing error and one that causes cars to spontaneously accelerate up to 100 mph. According to the Times of London, these faulty throttles have been responsible for 19 deaths and hundreds of injuries.

Thanks to the recall, it is possible to bring your Toyota or Lexus in for repairs, but what is impossible at this point is getting a straight answer out of Toyota or anyone else for that matter. Some people are speculating that there is a problem in the electronics that are used in the acceleration process, while others are claiming that the problem is strictly mechanical. Toyota has also claimed that these problems become exacerbated in cold or wet weather.

Whatever the reasons for the malfunction, the end result is that people are being put in serious danger, regardless of whether they own a Toyota or not. Automobiles do not operate in a vacuum. They share the road with other cars, and drive through neighborhoods where pedestrians walk. With this in mind, it seems somewhat miraculous that there have only been 19 deaths so far.

Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood halted the production of all models that fell under the recall, and wisely advised that owners of those models that were already on the road should be brought in for repairs immediately. The models that are affected by the recall are as follows:


Certain 2009-2010 RAV4’s
Certain 2009-2010 Corolla
2009-2010 Matrix
2005-2010 Avalon
Certain 2007-2010 Camry
Certain 2010 Highlander
2007-2010 Tundra
2008-2010 Sequoia

We want to reiterate that these are not harmless, run of the mill recalls. Toyota has placed thousands of people at risk ofinjury or worse due to faulty acceleration. It could have been a design flaw or it could have been a flaw on the assembly line, but at the end of the day thousands of people all over the world have been driving cars that spontaneously accelerate. They also crash into other cars and hit people.

The car recall attorneys at Greenberg and Bederman have been helping injury victims in the Washington, D.C. area for over 25 years. We have attorneys who have years of experience in product liability cases and negligence, and that includes automotive recalls. If you or a loved one has been injured because of a malfunction in a Toyota, contact Greenberg & Bederman for a free consultation.
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