Personal Injuries Due to Automobile Defects
Posted Friday, April 24, 2020 by Chris Thayer
Oftentimes, car accidents are the result of the negligence of a driver either speeding, failing to stop at a stop sign, driving while fatigued, driving while distracted, or driving under the influence of drugs or alcohol. However, research from the National Motor Vehicle Crash Causation Survey (NHTSA) indicates that 44,000 car accidents occur yearly due to no fault of a driver, but rather due to defective or faulty vehicle parts or components. These defective design and manufacturing flaws lead to millions of automobile recalls every year, and unfortunately, also hundreds of injuries and deaths.
*Manufacturing Defects*Automobile parts and components from brakes to tires to engine parts are all regulated by the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards established by the NHTSA. Some commonly seen defective parts and components of automobile parts that result in recalled vehicles include the following:
- Defective accelerators that stick or fail
- Failure of airbags to deploy, or the deployment of airbags unnecessarily
- Fires due to electrical flaws or failures in fuel systems
- Defective wheels (cracked or broken)
- Defective steering parts that result in the loss of control of the vehicle
- Failure of windshield wipers
- Failure of seats (or seat backs)
- Any other defectively designed or manufactured vehicle part or component
*Two Types of Accidents *The two types of accidents that occur from defective automobile parts and components include the following:
- Direct Cause. In some cases, a defective or flawed manufactured part or component will directly cause a car accident. Some examples include the following: brakes fail, steering wheels fail, airbags deploy at inappropriate times, or the acceleration pedal sticks. When these manufacturing defects exist, the driver oftentimes loses control of the vehicle directly causing an accident.
- Increased Severity. In other cases, the defective part or component of the vehicle does not directly cause the accident, but either makes the accident much more severe or causes more severe injuries to drivers and passengers in the vehicle. For example, the airbag could fail to deploy. In this particular case, the failure of the airbag to deploy did not cause the accident but will make the injuries of the victims much more serious. Products Liability Case
If an investigation into your car accident determines that a manufacturing defect of a vehicle part or component either caused your accident or caused injuries to be more severe, the manufacturer will be responsible for the resulting injuries and losses. Manufacturing defects fall under product liability law, which is a strict liability law. This means that if an investigation determines that a manufactured part or component of a vehicle is defectively designed or manufactured, then no further proof is needed regarding proving legal liability and responsibility, and the manufacturer will be held responsible.
*Contact an Experienced Personal Injury Attorney*If you were injured in a car accident, and you suspect that it may have occurred due to a defectively manufactured part or component of your vehicle, contact an experienced car accident attorney familiar with product liability law at the Pivotal Law Group at 206-340-2008. We proudly serve the Seattle, Bellevue, Kent, Renton, Burien, Mercer Island, and Issaquah areas.