Our Legal Blog

If you are out for a drive and your steering wheel falls off into your lap – that’s not safe. A steering component that breaks unexpectedly and causes you to lose control of your car is a perfect example of a safety-related vehicle defect. Earlier this week, at the urging of the National Highway…

Keyless cars sure seem convenient, but are they really safe? Push-button ignition systems with so-called “smart keys” (or key fob) let you start your car with little or no effort. Great, but…  The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and automakers are well aware that keyless car ignitions pose the risk of serious injuries…

Earlier this week, it was revealed that Ford is recalling about 391,000 Ranger pickup trucks because the driver’s airbag inflators, made by Takata, can explode with too much force and cause injuries. It’s about time. The problem with Takata airbags has been well known and publicized in other makes and models of vehicles. We…

CBS News is reporting today on its investigation into the dangers of car seatback failure — something our firm, safety experts, as well as the government and the auto industry have known about for decades. (Source: CBS News, Are carmakers, government ignoring deadly seat back danger?. Pfaff, Gill & Ports, Ltd. first successfully took…

The following vehicles were added this week to the massive recall of defective Takata airbags: 2001-2005 Honda Civic 2003-2007 Honda Accord 2003-2007 Toyota Corolla 2003-2007 Toyota Matrix 2005-2006 Toyota Tundra 2005-2007 Toyota Sequoia 2003-2007 Lexus SC430 Read more about how to check for current recall information on your vehicle. 

The announcement yesterday by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) of the massive expansion of the Takata airbag recall has hundreds of thousands of car owners racing to the website to check whether their vehicles are affected by the largest consumer product recall in U.S. history.  NHTSA is warning visitors to its site that…

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced today that Japanese supplier, Takata, will expand its recall of defective airbag inflators to include nearly 34 million vehicles, making it one of the largest recalls of any consumer product in United States history (via CNN). To date, at least six deaths and hundreds of injuries…

The New York Times recently reported that some accident victims injured or killed in vehicles linked to the General Motors ignition switch defect have had a hard time finding lawyers willing to take on the manufacturer. Gill Ports Hoste LLC is one of the few law firms in Illinois with the experience and resources…

Congressional hearings are underway this week to investigate how long General Motors knew about the ignition switch problem before it initiated the first wave of recalls earlier this year. Documents obtained by media outlets reveal that GM learned of the defect as early as 2001, during the pre-production testing of the Saturn Ion. The following year,…

Last month, General Motors Corp. recalled more than 1,000,000 Chevrolet Cobalts and certain Pontiac and Saturn vehicles to repair an ignition switch problem. The defect can allow the key to slip from its “run” position under certain foreseeable operating conditions. This defect can cause an engine shutdown and loss of power steering, brakes, and…