Personal Injury Law

Hawaii Consumer Alert: GM and Isuzu Truck Recall Raises Concerns Because Bailout Eliminates Product Liability Claims For Injury or death

By Wayne Parsons

In a report in U.S. News & World Report a pickup truck recall is initiated by automakers.

A brake light defect in General Motors trucks could lead to an an accident. GM is recalling about 185,000 small Chevrolet, GM and Isuzu pickup trucks to correct the defect.

Affected vehicles include the 2004-2009 Chevrolet Colorado, the 2004-2009 GMC Canyon, the 2006 Isuzu I-280, the 2006 Isuzu I-350, the 2007-2008 Isuzu I-290 and the 2007-2008 Isuzu I-370.

GM filed a defect notice with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA):

"Some of these vehicles have a brake lamp switch that may not work as designed due to contamination in the switch. This could cause the simultaneous loss of all brake lamps, or cause all of the brake lamps to stay on continuously. Both of these conditions could fail to warn others of the driver's intentions and could lead to a vehicle crash."

Hawaii is on the list of sates affected by the recall: Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New Mexico, Puerto Rico, South Carolina, Texas, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Utah.

If you own such a vehicle the dealer will replace the brake lamp switch free of charge. The automaker is designing a better part to fix the problem and predicts having it available early next year. So for now the defective switch will be replaced and then in February 2010 Dealers will contact owners for replacing that switch with the new improved switch. According to a GM spokesman

"A special coverage for vehicles registered in all other states will be implemented in the same time frame. In the interim, owners who experience the failure can obtain a free repair, however they will be required to return with the new design part becomes available."

To get more information contact Chevrolet at (800) 630-2438 , GMC at (866) 996-9463 , and Isuzu at (800) 255-6727.

Full post as published by Honolulu Personal Injury Lawyer on August 06, 2009 (boomark / email).