A fatal wreck last Saturday in Southlake, Texas has left four dead and police confused. At about 11:30 a.m. a 2008 Toyota Avalon crashed through a fence into a tree, then flipped into about six feet of water without any obvious cause.

Monty Hardy, Hadassah Vance, Wendy Akion, and Sharon Ransom were all Jehovah’s Witnesses going to door-to-door on return visits for service to their church. All four were wearing seat belts when their car was immersed in water. They all drowned and died within 24 hours.

The 2008 Toyota Avalon was recalled in November when it was discovered that the gas pedal might get stuck on the floor mats and cause sudden acceleration. Unfortunately, the vehicle was too damaged for police to determine if the floor mats had any part to play in the fatal accident.

Police are hoping to examine the car’s internal computer to find the cause of the wreck, but may not have the equipment to do so.

It is very important to heed recalls and warnings issued for your vehicle. If the floor mats did indeed influence this wreck, it is possible that it could have been avoided if a recall had been issued sooner or the owner of the vehicle had acted on it faster.

To find recalls issued for your vehicle, visit http://www.recalls.gov/nhtsa.html today.

Toyota has announced its largest recall ever.  The recall is on about 3.8 million vehicles in the United States to address problems with floor mats that could cause the gas pedal to get stuck and cause a car accident.

The recall includes 2007-2010 model year Toyota Camry, 2005-2010 Toyota Avalon, 2004-2009 Toyota Prius, 2005-2010 Toyota Tacoma, 2007-2010 Toyota Tundra, 2007-2010 Lexus ES350, and 2006-2010 Lexus IS250/IS350.

Toyota released the recall along with a warning to Toyota owners to remove the driver’s side floor mats.  The company is working to fix the problem.

Now that Chrysler and General Motors have declared bankruptcy, it is unlikely that they will be held accountable for defective vehicles manufactured before bankruptcy was filed.

Unfortunately, a report by Safety Research and Strategies estimates that almost 3,500 Americans will be hurt or killed by a defective GM or Chrysler product within the first year of their bankruptcy.

Legal loopholes could allow for these companies to forego any legal payments to consumers who were injured in a car made before the bankruptcy. Since it would cost money for them to issue recalls for units known to be defective, there is no reason to believe they will in fact do so. This puts consumers at risk, and leaves buyers with no way to regain what they spent on medical bill and treatment for injuries that could have been avoided.

Though GM and Chrysler together make up only about 38 percent of the automobile market, they account for 47 percent of claims against auto manufacturers.