The IRE Resource Center is a major research library containing more than 23,250 investigative stories — both print and broadcast. These stories are searchable online or by contacting the Resource Center directly (573-882-3364 or rescntr@ire.org) where a researcher can help you pinpoint what you need. Browse or search the tipsheet section of our library below. Stories are not available for download but can be easily ordered by contacting the Resource Center:
Search results for "car collisions" ...
-
Certified Dangerous: Used Cars' Airbags
An investigation of 1650 consumer complaints about the failure of airbags to deploy during car accidents such as head-on collisions, rollovers and broadside crashes. Some airbags are not replaced when the vehicle is being fixed after an accident, leaving the driver more succeptible to injury.
Tags: airbag; safety; t-bone; traffic; ford; gm; honda; kia; mitsubishi; nissan; volkswagen; auto accidents
-
Fatal Assumption
Expert auto repair surgeons lure customers into thinking they have a safe car by creating dummy airbags covers, but the bags are not inside. The tape exposes the case of a 50-year-old woman who was in a car accident and her air bag never deployed. The airbag had been cut out by the dealer who sold her the car. Dealers save thousands of dollars and that could cost lives. Many other cases like these are investigated by the news team. The tape shows how to tell a fake from a real air bag. It also holds a few of the liars accountable for making buyers think the cars have air bags.
Tags: TAPE; airbag; car; automobile; auto; auto dealer; car dealer; car accident; accident; fake airbag; Washington State Patrol Fatal Incident Report; Department of Licensing; collision; car crash; missing airbag.
-
Collision Course: Brent Spence Bridge obsolete, dangerous
A two-part look at a long interstate bridge that doesn't meet federal safety standards and the problems entailed in fixing or replacing it.
Tags: bridge; traffic; interstate; cars; trucks; accidents; highway safety
-
Death on the Roads
A 12-part Newsday series looks at why "Long Island is one of the most dangerous places in the nation" to drive a car. "Collisions claim roughtly 275 lives each year on Long Island," writes Jo Craven McGinty. "That's the equivalent of a Boeing 757 crashing annually, and it's more than five times the number of murders." The series delves into the causes for those numbers and concludes among other things that "bad driving, bad roads and bad vehicle design" are to blame.
Tags: driving; accidents; accident; crash; roads; collision; vehicle design; wreck; SUV; fatal; car; danger; pedestrian; seat belt; truck
-
Collision course
This story deals with the unfairness of the factors determining auto insurance rates. Specifically, New Jersey drivers "pay more on average for auto insurance than in any other state." In general, drivers from urban areas pay more than those from rural areas and, although there is a logic to it, "consumer advocates in several states argue that the higher number of losses in urban areas cannot possibly account for the huge difference in rates." Besides, some insurance companies avoid getting inner-city clients by not having offices in such areas. Legislation passed in New Jersey in 1997 partially fixed the problem and the number of insured cars went up 12 percent in two years. The story also refers to a program the state of California designed to counteract the unfairness.
Tags: insurance agents; urban drivers; New Jersey; Consumer Federation of America; Public Advocates; Texas Department of Insurance; Nationwide Financial Corp.; Automobile Urban Enterprise Zones; Los Angeles County; San Francisco County; California Insurance Department
-
The Jack in the Box Shootings
The Post-Dispatch refutes the official police version about the shooting of two suspects by undercover drug detectives in June 2000. The story reveals that -- contrary to what the detectives claimed -- the suspects' car was moving away from the detectives when they fired, not forward toward the detectives.
Tags: crime; collision expertise; Missouri Sunshine Law; law enforcement; self-defense; African Americans; U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency
-
Crown Victoria Police Car Fires
From the contest entry summary: "Greg Hunter examines the allegedly dangerous design of the most popular police car in the United States, the Ford Crown Victoria Police Cruiser. Critics of this car say the gas tank is in a dangerous place. The tank is directly behind the rear axle, and in a high-speed rear-end collision, the tank smashes into the axle and is punctured, causing fuel leaks that catch the vehicle on fire." Other Ford vehicles -- about 3 million cars with the same design defect -- also pose safety questions.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; safety; deaths; law enforcement; lawsuits; transportation
-
Fueling the Flames
A KSTP-TV Eyewitness news investigation found a serious design flaw in the Jeep brand automobiles. In low-speed, rear-impact collisions, passenger doors have tended to jam and the gas tank tears loose, emptying into the passenger compartment. KSTP-TV's investigative reporter Jay Kolls found that five people have died in slow speed crashes because of trapped doors, but Daimler-Chrysler and American Motors (the company that formerly made Jeep vehicles) knew about the defect since the 1980s and failed to make any changes.
Tags: TAPE; TRANSCRIPT; transportation; accidents; Jeep; CAR; NHTSA; FARS
-
Collision Course
Fatalities and car accidents are up dramatically in the Denver metro area. This article details the circumstances surrounding the death of a young girl who, with her family, was killed at a crosswalk on Colfax Avenue. A car ran a red light -- and struck the family of four. A local radio station raised $30,000 for the family to help bury daughter Alexis and to be set aside for the family. The mother spent most of the money on a car and set aside just $2,000 apiece for her other children. The family remains angry about the incident and considered suing the perpetrator, Shelia Towns, but decided against it because she has no wealth. Towns claims she split because she'd had a few drinks before the incident and was worried about going to jail. As it is, she will spend 18 months in jail, followed by rehab and a 12-year suspended sentence.
Tags: Wellington Webb; traffic fatalities; radio stations; charity drives; traffic planning; traffic light timing; the grid system; Denver Police Department; Mother's Day; Douglas County; violations; ticket prices; Colorado Department of Transportation; point system
-
Further Problems of Safety Found For Light Trucks, Documents on Design of Explorer Reveal a Series of Compromises
Half of all cars purchased in the U.S. are in the light truck category, which include SUVs. "Ford designed its Explorer on a shoestring budget in the late 1980's, bolting a roomy car-like passenger cabin on top of the underbody of a Ranger pickup truck. The high-riding design made the vehicle more prone to rolling over... Sport utility vehicles, which many American busy partly because they seem safer than cars in collisions between the two, roll over so often that their occupants are just as likely to die in an accident as car occupants..."
Tags: Ford; SUV; sport utility vehicle; rollover rate; tire; Firestone; auto safety; consumer image; SUV drivers; mass production; design changes and flaws; payload; rear suspension; frame rails; track width; sides and roof alterations