San Antonio Injury Lawyer Blog

San Antonio auto accidents are occasionally caused by tire defects. San Antonio personal injury lawyers need to be aware that a tire defect can cause serious injuries and often death.
Occasionally speed, road debris, or impact is to blame for a tire failure, when in fact the tire defect itself caused the vehicle to leave the roadway or caused the vehicle to over correct.

San Antonio automobile owners need to be aware that they are at an increased risk of a serious automobile accident if they have tires manufactured by DEL-NAT with a tire line of DELTA A/S size 245/70R17. The defective tires were manufactured between November 22, 2009 and December 5, 2009. The tires may develop tread chunking or cracking in the shoulder area. Further information is available at the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) under Campaign Id: 10T008000.

If an automobile accident occurs and a tire appears damaged or deflated it is prudent to investigate the tire for recalls and warnings.

Personal injuries in Texas caused by product defects occur too often. San Antonio personal injury lawyers with experience in product defect cases have kept all of us safer by holding manufacturers accountable. Product liability lawsuits have become an increasingly important means of keeping consumers safe.

Case in Point: the current Toyota Motor Corp. recalls highlight a corporation’s attempts to deny, hide, and obfuscate the seriousness of the product defects. It has now become apparent that numerous car models over a number of years had issues with sudden acceleration and the car owner complaints were either minimized or explained away. Some news agencies have reported that there were over 2600 complaints of sudden acceleration in a 10 year period and that approximately 5 years ago Toyota started to attribute the problem to its software and not the floor mats. Manufacturers cannot be relied upon to assure our safety and the regulatory agencies have clearly shown that they cannot stay abreast of all the serious defects in the marketplace.

Regulation is crucial to maintaining some base level of safety for products placed into the stream of commerce; however, Federal and State Regulators do not have the resources, staff or expertise to monitor all of the various products sold in the United States. Regulation of corporations has never been enough and the laissez-faire policies of the Bush Administration only further weakened regulatory agencies by cutting their budgets and staff. As we have written about previously, agencies such as the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) , the Consumer Product Safety Commission and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are all overwhelmed by their workload and budget constraints.

We will have to rely upon Texas personal injury lawyers and Texas product defect lawyers to police the safety of products sold in the United States; unless we are willing to increase our taxes to greatly increase the funding for the Federal regulatory agencies. Product liability lawsuits have played a dominant role in making products safer. Many manufacturers have been compelled to redesign their products to make them safer for consumers. An added benefit of product liability lawsuits is that the party that caused the injury is held accountable so that the huge costs of catastrophic injuries are not passed on to the public at large.

An Americano USA bus was involved in a serious accident 55 miles South of San Antonio, Texas on Highway 37. The accident killed at least two and injured many more passengers. Approximately 38 passengers were transported to area hospitals. The bus had just left San Antonio and was headed to Matamoros, Mexico for a Spring Break trip.

An initial investigation conducted by the Texas Department of Public Safety indicated that faulty equipment may have been the cause of the accident. Apparently the drive shaft fell off the vehicle as it was driving down Highway 37 in Atascosa County, Texas.

Americanos USA is a business entity that is related to Greyhound Bus, which is a division of FirstGroup America. Americanos buses have been involved in 10 crashes in the past 30 months. A National Transportation Safety Board (“NTSB”) spokesman has indicated that they are currently not intending to open an investigation in the crash. According to the NTSB the crash does not appear to turn up any new safety issues.

As we have written before in our blog, safety defects on buses are a real concern for the general public and the bus passengers. It is also clear that the Federal and State Agencies responsible for the safety of motor vehicles should not be relied upon to make sure that buses and other vehicles are properly maintained. A San Antonio personal injury lawyer should investigate this accident to determine how a bus that was recently inspected could be in such a horrible accident. Potentially, the bus company, the bus manufacturer and the maintenance company could all be held responsible for compensation to the victims of the crash.

In a recent story on San Antonio local news (WOAI), it was reported that records from the Texas Department of Transportation’s database indicate that since 2005 San Antonio law enforcement officers have cited cell phone use as a contributing factor in more than 17,519 accidents with 7,519 injuries and 167 deaths. Further, according to the report, San Antonio had the highest number of cell phone related crashes in Texas over the past five years.

Driver inattention due to cell phone use is not new; studies have reported the effects of cell phone use while driving as being the same, if not worse, as a driver having consumed alcohol or marijuana and driving. Injuries caused by drivers that are texting can be serious and severe. This level of driver, on busy roadways, places the entire driving public at risk. The highest risk areas are spread throughout San Antonio, according to the local news report - Loop 1604 at IH-10; Loop 1604 at Hwy. 281; Bandera Rd. at Loop 410; and even downtown streets are cited.

Determining fault in a auto accident may require an in-depth look into the cell phone records of the person believed to be at fault.