Current Events

Daimler AG said recalling about 841,000 vehicles to fix potentially defective Takata Corp. air bags will cost the German automaker about 340 million euros ($384 million) and cut into the profit it reported last week for 2015.

The automaker will repair about 705,000 Mercedes-Benz cars and 136,000 Daimler vans, according to a company statement. The cost of replacing Takata’s air bags, already the largest consumer-safety recall in U.S. history, reduces group net income for last year to 8.7 billion euros from the 8.94 billion euros outlined on Feb. 4.

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Two leading Senate Democrats introduced a bill Thursday that would strictly limit the use of arbitration, a process used to resolve legal disputes that is often stacked against consumers.

The bill, introduced by Senator Patrick J. Leahy, Democrat of Vermont, and co-sponsored by Senator Al Franken, Democrat of Minnesota, would prevent civil rights cases, employment disputes and other crucial lawsuits from being forced into arbitration, where judges and juries have been replaced by arbitrators who commonly consider the companies their clients.

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With millions of cars containing potentially defective airbags made by Takata still on the road, two senators on Tuesday urged the Obama administration to significantly expand the airbag recalls.

Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut and Edward Markey of Massachusetts, both Democrats, called on the Obama administration in a letter to force the recall of every Takata airbag that uses a propellant that contains a compound called ammonium nitrate, which can degrade over time and become unstable.

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Johnson & Johnson has made its first serious move to settle thousands of lawsuits filed by women who fault the company’s vaginal-mesh inserts for their injuries, according to people familiar with the matter.

The medical-device maker agreed to pay more than $120 million to resolve 2,000 to 3,000 suits alleging women suffered organ damage and were left in constant pain by mesh surgical inserts that eroded in their bodies, according to three people who asked not to be named because they weren’t authorized to speak publicly about the settlement.

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The FDA has reclassified surgical mesh used to repair pelvic organ prolapse as “high risk,” citing thousands of reports of complications involving its use.

The classification requires manufacturers to complete a rigorous application process demonstrating the safety and effectiveness of the implant. Companies with products already on the market have 30 months to submit the application, while those wanting to sell new devices must submit the application beforehand.

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America’s system for ensuring that medical devices are safe failed at every turn when dirty endoscopes began spreading deadly superbugs, according to a Senate investigation released today.

The report, from Senator Patty Murray, a Washington Democrat, blames device manufacturers, hospitals, and the Food and Drug Administration for infections that sickened at least 250 people worldwide since 2012 and that may have contributed to dozens of deaths.

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You wouldn't deliberately leave your car running after you pull into the garage, but if that car has a keyless push-button ignition you could forget to turn it off. With an attached garage, the carbon monoxide spewing out of the tailpipe could very easily seep into your house, causing illness or death.

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Jan 4 - Honda Motor Co confirmed on Thursday that a Takata airbag inflator ruptured in a July crash of a Honda Accord and likely led to the death of the young driver, the ninth death in the world linked to the faulty inflators.

The death, first reported by U.S. auto safety authorities last week, is the eighth in the United States and the first since April tied to the inflators that have been recalled in tens of million of vehicles worldwide.

After an inspection of vehicle components in cooperation with regulators, Honda said it "confirmed that the Takata driver's front airbag inflator ruptured" and "injuries related to this airbag inflator rupture likely resulted in the tragic death of the underage driver."

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said last week the death took place in July in a recalled used 2001 Honda Accord coupe near Pittsburgh. The unidentified teen-aged driver was hospitalized after a Takata airbag ruptured and died several days later.

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The Food and Drug Administration is tightening regulations for surgical mesh products used to repair a condition known as pelvic organ prolapse, following years of scrutiny by the U.S. regulator and many lawsuits by women who allege they have suffered harm from such products.

The products will be reclassified as high-risk rather than moderate-risk medical devices when used in procedures that go through the vagina to repair organ prolapse. The FDA will require all manufacturers to submit data to support the effectiveness and safety of such devices before they are allowed on the market.

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The Justice Department filed a civil complaint Monday against Volkswagen alleging nearly 600,000 cars with diesel engines in the U.S. violate emissions laws and that many were imported in violation of the Clean Air Act.

The lawsuit was filed in Detroit on behalf of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, which worked with the California Air Resources Board in exposing the violations last year. VW has admitted to rigging cars with 2-liter diesel engines, and the EPA found violations in vehicles with 3-liter diesels as well.

The complaint alleges that the nearly 600,000 diesel engine vehicles built since 2009 were equipped with illegal "defeat devices" installed to impair emission control systems. That resulted in higher emissions than allowed by law. The lawsuit asks for penalties of up to $37,500 per car.

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