43,200 Americans were killed in motor vehicle accidents on highways in the United States in 2005.

One fourth of those fatalities – 10,816 people – died from vehicle rollovers, and rollovers accounted for less than 5 percent of all vehicle accidents in that year. More than 5,000 people suffered from injuries that caused them to become quadriplegic. Injuries and fatalities from rollovers are caused by the roof of the vehicle crushing the passengers, or from glass shattered from the roof crush.

Common sense would say that the the automobile industry is working to cut the amount of injuries – but it is not. In fact, these manufacturers are trying to use a federal agency, the National Highway and Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA), to eliminate the rights of car crash victims seeking justice and compensation from their injuries – injuries that could be prevented with stronger roof crush standards.

Hopefully, with pressure from Congress and consumer advocate groups, the NHTSA will maintain citizen’s access to our court system and revise their standard to more stringent – and safer – levels.

Faulty cruise control switches that caused fires under the hood of Ford vehicles were the source of a massive recall starting in September of 2005.

Ford Motor Company estimates that 4.9 million vehicles have been fixed as a result of the recall — a number less than half of the 10 million that were originally recalled.

The National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration (NHTSA) stated in their recall, “Failure to have the switch disconnected could lead to a vehicle fire at any time, whether or not the key is in the ignition, and whether or not owners use the cruise control system.”

Bringing that into perspective, an estimated 5.1 million Ford vehicles, cars and trucks including model years from the early 1990s, have the potential to spontaneously erupt into flames while on the highway, or in garages and junkyards with the ignition turned off. The potential fire danger is present regardless of the age of the vehicle.

Parts needed to fix this defect in Ford cars and trucks are available at dealerships around the country.

German automaker BMW has issued a recall of about 200,000 cars and SUVs due reports of airbag failure from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Office of Defect Investigation.

According to reports, wear and tear caused by a people getting in and out of the front passenger side seat can cause the front passenger airbag sensors to deactivate and fail to deploy even in a severe car wreck. The passenger-side head protection airbags remain safe.

This warning applies to the following BMW vehicles: the 2004 to 2005 5-Series standard and sport seat models; the 2004 to 2006 X3 and the 2006 3-Series with sport seats.

The recall will begin in late September.

BMW will also extend the airbag warrantees to cover 10 years from the original registration with no mileage limit on the 2006 6-Series and 3-Series with a standard seat, the 2004 to 2005 Z4, the 2004 to 2006 7-Series; the 2006 X5 and the 2004 to 2006 5-Series with a comfort seat.

If you are a concerned and have questions about this recall or others, you can contact BMW at 1-800-525-7417 or the NHTSA at 1-888-327-4236.