Free Republic

MILWAUKEE—A driver survived when his pickup truck plunged about 70 feet off a slippery interchange exit ramp in Wisconsin.A Wisconsin Department of Transportation camera captured the Milwaukee-area crash. The video shows the pickup hitting snow on the right shoulder before flipping over the barrier wall and plummeting to Interstate 94 below as cars pass by.When deputies arrived, they found the pickup upright in the right shoulder of the westbound I-94 lanes, the sheriff’s office said. Two people were already trying to help the driver, who was conscious and breathing.The man was taken to a hospital to be evaluated, sheriff’s officials...

Initially, only six makes were exposed 2013. When Takata claimed to have "little clue" as to which cars used the frags in you'r faces safety feature, or even it's "root cause" ? The fix: Toyota has advised its dealers to disable the airbags and affix “Do Not Sit Here” messages to the dashboard. Pontiac may follow suit...

Takata, already at the center of the largest and most complex auto recall in history, says many of the cars already repaired will have to have a second airbag replacement. In prepared testimony for a Congressional hearing later Tuesday, a Takata executive says many of the cars repaired so far have an inflator, known as a "batwing" inflator, that is now believed to be tied to the exploding airbags. The batwing inflators have been found in cars that had exploding driver-side airbags tied to most of the dozens of serious injuries and all six deaths that have prompted the massive...

Federal transportation officials announced Tuesday that Japanese company Takata Corp. has agreed to recall roughly 34 million vehicles because of defective air bags, in the largest auto recall in U.S. history. Takata agreed to the recall of the 33.8 million vehicles amid mounting pressure and fines from federal regulators over roughly the past year.

Owners can check by manufacturer. Here is the list of vehicles released Wednesday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration: Note: The list below corrects the list that accompanied NHTSA's Oct. 20 advisory, which incorrectly included certain vehicles. The numbers cited for potentially affected vehicles below are subject to change and adjustment because there may be cases of vehicles being counted more than once. Owners should check their VIN periodically as manufacturers continue to add VINs to the database. Once owner recall notices are available, owners can retrieve a copy from SaferCar.gov, or will receive one by U.S. mail and...

Volvo has come out with the world's first commercial airbag designed to protect pedestrians rather than drivers in a car accident. That's just one of many smart safety features on display in its latest model of the Volvo V40 compact car. The pedestrian airbag inflates across one-third of the windshield and raises the back of the car hood as soon as the bumper detects a collision with a person. Such technology could cut down on lethal encounters between humans and cars that lead to U.S. pedestrians making up 12 percent of all traffic fatalities —

Russian airbag test.

Was it just a wrong turn, or something more sinister? Marine base Camp Pendleton — one of the largest military bases in the country — is reportedly on high alert after three Middle Eastern men tried to enter the base last weekend on multiple occasions in multiple vehicles. And while the men initially claimed they didn’t know each other and simply took a wrong turn, new information from a local gas station about “hateful comments” and “terrorist threats” casts doubt on their story: http://clipsyndicate.com/video/playlist/8178/2340295?wpid=9528 KGTV explains some of the shocking details: According to a Be On the Lookout (BOLO) alert...

You crash in a car and an air bag inflates to cushion the blow, but what happens if you crash on a motorcycle? That's the problem that the Thermahelm, a brain-cooling motorcycle helmet, tries to solve. It's a potentially life-saving technology--80% of all motorcycle fatalities involve head injuries. The carbon-fiber helmet, designed by British motorcycle enthusiast Jullian Preston-Powers, contains two chemical packs in its lining. One pack contains ammonium nitrate and the other contains water. When a crash occurs, the packs mix together and create a cooling reaction that stabilizes brain temperature and eases swelling for up to 45 minutes--that...

Scamming body shops removing airbags for profit, stuffing rags and other junk in its cavities. In 2003, Damaras Gatihi was hit from behind while driving down I-5 near Seattle. After spinning a few times, her Corolla hit another car in a head on collision. This 50 year old nurses assistant died after her airbag didn’t deply, from a massive blow to the heart. This tragic accident ironically occurred on valentines day.More than just an expensive problem for auto insurance companies, air bag fraud is becoming an increasingly worrisome problem for all drivers. It is a public safety issue that has...

A plaintiff who turned down a "nuisance value" settlement offer from Honda in an air-bag defect case not only lost the jury verdict but has also been ordered to pay the automaker more than $500,000 in attorney fees and costs by a Nevada state court judge. Parties faced with what they believe are meritless claims sometimes offer a nuisance-value settlement for less than they would spend seeking dismissal or defending the matter. Nevada has an "offer of judgment" statute, under which a party may offer a settlement up to 10 days before trial, with costs accrued to that point. Clark...

President Hillary? We’re not even ready for a First Lady who deviates from the script—or, heaven forfend, has a little bit of a mouth on her. Yet in the main, Heinz Kerry’s remarks were only shocking in contrast to the overprocessed and infantilizing blah-blah that characterize most political speech. And whatever you think of Kerry’s candidacy, his wife is someone who has undeniably devoted her considerable energies and resources to making this world a better place, using her foundation to fund important research on women’s health, the environment and early-childhood development. As everyone knows, her first husband, Sen. John Heinz,...

A 4-year-old girl died Friday of injuries suffered when a collision deployed an airbag in her mother's minivan while the child was in the front passenger seat. Raven Leigh Manley died at a Gainesville hospital four days after her neck was broken as her mother brought her home from ballet class. A hospital spokesman said Angelique Manley decided to take her daughter off life support. Raven was not in her car seat Monday when Manley's Chevrolet Venture rear-ended a car. Bay County sheriff's deputies are still investigating the crash, which caused a minor dent on the minivan. Her mother said...

Grandma 'destroyed' by child's death 11/18/02Stephen HudakPlain Dealer Reporter Eaton Township- The few times she rode in the front seat, 5-year-old Adrianna Cortimilia felt like a big girl, her father said. The last time, it killed her. Adrianna, a kindergarten student at Grafton Primary School, died Friday from head injuries apparently caused by an air bag that inflated during an accident a day earlier in a parking lot in Lorain. A city spokesman said an accident report was not available yesterday. Adrianna and her 3-year-old brother, Wesley, were in a van driven by their maternal grandmother, Betty Stull, when it...