Kansas City Injury Lawyer Blog

Ford Motor Company will soon announce a massive recall of more than 1.1 million pickup trucks because of the risk that gas tanks on these trucks could detach and fall off, possibly creating an explosion hazard.

Documents filed with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration confirm that several F-150 pickup truck models from 1997 through 2003 model years, Heritage models from 2004, F-250 trucks from 1997 through 1999 and Lincoln Blackwood vehicles from 2002 and 2003 have been included in the recall. Only vehicles sold in some states, including Missouri, have been included in this recall.

According to the company, the problem lies with damaged straps that hold the gas tanks in place. In states like Missouri, authorities use a lot of deicing techniques, including the use of road salt, during winter months. Prolonged exposure to the road salt can cause corrosion of the straps, holding the gas tank to the vehicle.

The corroded straps can cause the gas tank to come loose, and drag on the road while the vehicle is in motion. The gas tank may even completely detach, and fall off on the ground. Sparks that are caused by the gas tank being dragged on the road, may even ignite causing an explosion. Gasoline can even leak from the tank, posing an even more serious explosion hazard.

If you are the owner of any of the Ford vehicles involved in this recall, contact your local Ford dealer for information about what to do next. Ford is likely to contact all consumers soon to tell them to take their vehicles to a dealer for repairs. The repairs will include replacing the fuel tank straps with new ones that come with increased corrosion protection.

Doug Horn is a Missouri product liability attorney, representing persons who have injured by the use of defective products, across Missouri.

http://www.truckinginfo.com/news/news-detail.asp?news_id=74280

Stability control systems, which are so popular in automobiles, can also help prevent truck rollovers. In fact, Missouri truck accident lawyers believe that they could prevent as many as 3,600 truck rollover accidents every year, and save at least 100 lives in the process. The National Transportation Safety Board is now calling on federal trucking safety agencies to implement rollover prevention technologies and systems.

The National Transportation Safety Board is even more concerned about truck rollover accidents since a 2009 Indiana accident that left five people injured. The Indiana accident involved a tanker truck loaded with liquefied petroleum gas, flipped over on a busy Indiana highway, and burst into flames. Miraculously, no one was killed in the accident. But the tanker truck driver and a motorist who got too close to the fireball sustained serious injuries.

The National Transportation Safety Board has completed its investigation into that accident. The Board blames the fact that the tanker truck was at a high susceptibility for a rollover because of its high center of gravity. If the tanker truck had come with stability control systems, it is likely that the driver could have retained control over the tanker truck, thereby preventing this accident.

A tanker truck rollover can have terrible consequences. Very often, these tanker trucks are carrying gasoline and other hazardous materials. In the event of a rollover, these materials can easily leak. People in the vicinity may be at a high risk from exposure to hazardous chemicals. They may also be at a high risk from explosions or fires.
The National Transportation Safety Board is calling on the federal trucking safety agency and the federal pipeline safety agency to work together to implement better protections against truck rollover accidents. This would include mandating stability control systems in all tanker trucks. The Board also wants a review of the design of cargo tank trucks and stronger performance standards for new cargo tanks.