James Sikes was taking an afternoon drive on a San Diego County freeway yesterday in his Toyota Prius when things suddenly became dangerous. Sikes said that he pressed his gas pedal to accelerate while passing another car and the car just kept going. As has been reported over the past few months with a great deal of Toyota vehicles, Sikes experienced a case of sudden unintended acceleration that pushed his Prius to 94 mph.

More than 355,000 Chrysler minivans are set to be recalled, according to a recent announcement by the American auto manufacturer and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Chrysler Group LLC has called the action a “safety improvement campaign,” while the NHTSA insists that by definition it is indeed a recall. Regardless of label, the immensely popular Dodge Caravan, Grand Caravan and Chrysler Town & Country minivan models are being recalled due to airbag issues.

Hyundai Motor Corp. has announced a recall of more than 47,000 2011 Sonatas, and has suspended sales of the popular vehicle in the U.S. until a problem with front door latches is corrected. The South Korean automaker has found that in some testing cases the front doors were not closing properly and that could lead to unexpected opening of front driver and passenger side doors. While the majority of vehicles involved in this recall were manufactured and sold in South Korea through December 6, there were more than 1,300 sold in the U.S. as recently as February 16.

A single-vehicle crash that occurred in 2007 has sparked the fourth wrongful death lawsuit against Toyota in conjunction with the string of recent recalls by the world’s leading automobile manufacturer. Tyrene Livingston was driving to her internship on October 26, 2007, when a defect in her car’s electronic throttle system allegedly caused the car to drive across three lanes of traffic, through a barrier and into some woods. The 21-year old college student suffered severe injuries that proved to be fatal.

Over the past week, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has announced the voluntary recalls of three different brands of children’s clothing, specifically jackets and hooded sweatshirts that have waist and/or neck drawstrings. These jackets and sweatshirts pose a choking and suffocation threat to young children, and the CPSC as well as the respective manufacturers urge all consumers to stop using these brands immediately to avoid any possible injuries. As of yet, there have been no reported injuries caused by any of the recalled jackets or sweatshirts.

After announcing a fourth recall of more than 7,300 2010 Camry vehicles, Toyota is now under U.S. federal investigation after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration declared that an investigation might be forthcoming and necessary for 2009 and 2010 Toyota Corollas. More than 150 complaints have been registered about these late model vehicles having issues with uneven and shaky steering.

Toyota Motor North America has announced a new recall of more than 7,300 Toyota Camry vehicles, however this small amount has nothing to do with the previous three recalls that have made the world’s No. 1 automobile manufacturer the focus of international news. This new recall involves 2010 models of Toyota’s best-selling sedan, as there is a possibility that the 4-cylinder version may be equipped with a power steering pressure hose of insufficient length, according to a release from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.