Were You Ejected From Your Vehicle During a Seattle Car Accident?
Posted Friday, December 10, 2021 by Chris Thayer
It should come as no surprise that your chances of surviving a crash are substantially greater if you remain in the vehicle. Those who are ejected from the vehicle face a much higher likelihood of fatality and catastrophic injury. The greatest way to reduce your chances of being ejected from a vehicle during a crash is to wear a seat belt. Some studies suggest that nearly half of all passengers involved in accidents who were not wearing accidents were ejected as a result. However, sometimes passengers take all necessary precautions, including wearing a seat belt, and are still ejected from the vehicle. This is because wearing a defective seat belt is no more effective than wearing no seat belt at all.
*Defective Products and Occupant Ejection * If you were wearing a seatbelt and were still ejected from your vehicle, something went wrong, and chances are, it was not your fault. There are a number of ways in which vehicles and vehicle components can malfunction or contain defects that can result in ejection. Seat belts may fail to completely latch with the buckle, coming undone upon impact. In other situations, the seat belt, which is meant to quickly tighten upon impact, will instead unspool, releasing the full belt, and instead of stopping the passenger’s inertia upon impact, allows their momentum to carry them right out of the vehicle. If you were ejected from the vehicle and your seat belt was still buckled after the accident, there is a good chance that this is what happened.
Another defect that can result in vehicle ejections involves improperly functioning door handles or latches. If a door comes off during an accident–particularly a roll-over accident–this can result in ejection even if the individual was wearing a seat belt. Be sure to tell the officers at the scene (if you are able) in the event that you were wearing a seatbelt but were ejected from the vehicle. Otherwise officers will generally just see an unbuckled seatbelt or an ejected person and assume in the report that the passengers were not properly restrained, which can affect your legal options and recovery.
If your police report improperly reflects that you were not wearing a seatbelt at the time of the accident, be sure to contact a lawyer as soon as possible so that we can work to remedy the issue and determine the cause of the seat belt malfunction before the misinformation can impact your insurance settlement or any findings of liability. If you have suffered or survived a vehicle ejection, chances are that your medical bills are huge, and will only continue to get bigger. A personal injury lawyer can help you determine your legal options.
*Schedule a Consultation with Pivotal Law Group * If you have been seriously injured in a vehicle accident that was not your fault, the experienced personal injury lawyers at the Pivotal Law Group are ready to help. Serving Seattle, Bellevue, Kent, Renton, Burien, Mercer Island, Issaquah, and the greater Washington State area, contact Pivotal Law Group today to schedule your personalized consultation and find out how you can start moving forward again in life.