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Auto Industry Publication Dubs Safety Forum Attorney 'The Watchdog'

13 March 2000

Auto Industry Publication Dubs Safety Forum Attorney 'The Watchdog'

    WASHINGTON, March 13 Attorney J. Kendall Few is "The
Watchdog" according to an Automotive News article profiling the South Carolina
attorney as a representative of trial lawyers and the role they play in
improving vehicle safety. Automotive News, the automotive industry's most
respected publication since 1925, selected Few from the thousands of safety
attorneys nationwide who sue manufacturers for the products they sell that
hurt people.
    Accompanying the four page article, featuring Few, is a "litigation
legacy" list of vehicle safety improvements that include:
    "energy-absorbing crush zones; stronger roof supports; vehicle safety
cages; recessed car-door handles; side-impact door beams; higher, more
realistic crash test speeds, after the Ford Pinto fire cases; sport-utilities
with wider tracks, lower centers of gravity; three-point shoulder harnesses
instead of rear seat lap belts; stronger seat backs; more secure door latches;
depowered airbags; transmission changes to prevent slippage from 'Park'; and
fuel tanks located ahead of rear axles, inside frame rails."
    The profile delves into Few's "seemingly obsessive investigation" of why
some seat belt buckles come unfastened in crashes while others remain
fastened.   So far Few's seat belt buckle research has taken him to 15
countries where he has collected and cataloged more than 2,000 buckles.  He
has identified buckle design features, that he calls "locks for the latch,"
that protect against buckles releasing during a crash. Few, characterized by
Automotive News as "looking like a younger, trimmer Walter Matthau in the role
of wily country lawyer," is The Safety Forum's "Attorney of Record" for seat
belt buckles.  The article points out that Few compiles this and other
research in massive volumes that he shares freely with other attorneys.
    Pointing out that technology is available to make cars safer, Few told
Automotive News that "If they use that technology and incorporate appropriate
state-of-the-art and safe designs, then we'll have safer vehicles, we'll have
fewer people who are injured, and there will be less litigation. And that will
be good."
    The article cites auto industry documents acknowledging that law suits
prod manufacturers into building safer cars.  One 1985 Nissan briefing paper
revealed that "design features which have caused (product liability) problems
in the past are changed so that the problem is avoided in the future.  Nissan
has made several improvements as a result of (product liability) experience."
Another Nissan document cited in the article claims that General Motors'
"product liability engineers play significant roles in advising other
engineering departments and divisions...and utilize the experiences gained
(in) product liability litigation in improving existing products."
    Few observed "Lawyers are involved in this field because there is a
need."
    The full article may be viewed at http://www.safetyforum.com/vehicle.

    CONTACT:  Kendall Few of J. Kendall Few, P.A., 864-232-6456.