CBS Evening News open - 2004-12-09

Channel: malgent

Transcript

Language: English (original, YouTube automatic captions)

[0:00] pizza. Thank you for making News Channel

[0:02] 5 your number one choice for news and

[0:04] information.

[0:08] >> Tonight, a CBS News exclusive. Two of

[0:11] the most popular vehicles on the road

[0:12] could be dangerous. And now the

[0:14] government orders many of them recalled.

[0:17] The soldier asked the question, "What's

[0:20] behind the shortage of armored vehicles

[0:22] for US forces in Iraq?" Tonight, we'll

[0:25] give you some answers. A battle brewing

[0:27] over changing social security and how to

[0:30] pay for it. What does it mean to you and

[0:34] I on America? How children and parents

[0:36] separated by war are being reunited at

[0:40] bedtime.

[0:46] This is the CBS Evening News with Dan

[0:50] Rather reporting from CBS News

[0:52] headquarters in New York.

[0:54] >> Good evening. Many Americans are driving

[0:56] them right now, but they could be very

[0:58] dangerous. The US government is now

[1:00] ordering a safety recall of hundreds of

[1:03] thousands of light trucks built by

[1:05] Daimler Chrysler, the Dodge Durango, and

[1:07] the Dodge Dakota. CBS News correspondent

[1:10] Mika Bzinski first exposed a potentially

[1:13] deadly defect in these vehicles more

[1:15] than a year ago. A defect that could

[1:17] cause a wheel to fly off. And tonight,

[1:20] she has this exclusive follow-up. Ma,

[1:22] >> well Dan, 600,000 popular vehicles could

[1:25] be recalled if Daimler Chrysler complies

[1:28] with the government's demand. The recall

[1:30] order covers model year's 2000 to 2003

[1:33] 4x4 Dodge Durango SUVs and Dakota pickup

[1:37] trucks with four-wheel drive. The

[1:39] government action highlights a problem

[1:40] first uncovered by CBS News more than a

[1:43] year ago.

[1:44] >> I mean, unfortunately, it could have

[1:46] been a really deadly situation. Back

[1:48] then, Manique Conrad's 2000 Durango had

[1:51] only 31,000 miles on it when the right

[1:53] front wheel suddenly flew off while she

[1:56] was driving. The tire and this big piece

[1:58] of metal that's probably a foot past the

[2:01] tire was bouncing across four lanes of

[2:03] the of the road. Her experience along

[2:06] with similar complaints prompted the

[2:08] government to investigate possible

[2:10] premature wear of Dodge Durango upper

[2:12] ball joints,

[2:14] a ball and socket attaching the wheel

[2:16] assembly to the vehicle. Since our first

[2:18] report, CBS News received hundreds of

[2:20] emails, photos, and calls from viewers

[2:23] around the country like Kate McGee

[2:25] Sawyer from Maine.

[2:26] >> The wheel just flew out.

[2:28] >> Tina Czech in Massachusetts.

[2:30] >> The wheel had completely fallen off.

[2:32] >> Joyce and John Gosh in Pennsylvania.

[2:34] This just ripped right out.

[2:36] >> As the complaints piled up, the

[2:37] government expanded its investigation to

[2:40] include the Dodge Dakota pickup truck,

[2:42] which uses the same upper ball joints.

[2:44] John Coron in Ohio.

[2:46] >> So, you got out of the car and what'd

[2:47] you see?

[2:48] >> Saw the the tire and wheel underneath

[2:51] the front end of the truck.

[2:52] >> According to the government, a third of

[2:54] the nearly 2 million vehicles

[2:55] investigated had defective upper ball

[2:57] joints, and almost all were produced at

[2:59] this Indiana plant. Customers paid up to

[3:02] $1,200 to replace these parts. A recall

[3:05] would mean a huge financial hit for

[3:07] Daimler Chrysler.

[3:08] >> The cost is certainly going to run into

[3:10] the hundreds of millions of dollars.

[3:12] >> Daimler Chrysler also faces mounting

[3:14] lawsuits like the one filed by David and

[3:17] Christina Schaefer. They were on the

[3:19] highway in their Durango with their four

[3:21] young children when suddenly

[3:22] >> it seemed like we just went into a a

[3:24] frenzy of flipping.

[3:25] >> Bodies went flying everywhere.

[3:27] Christina, who was pregnant at the time,

[3:29] suffered numerous injuries, including a

[3:31] broken neck.