I Have a Question About a Defective
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Written by: Mark Wolfe, Attorney at Law. The following information is provided as general advice and without charge. Questions about specific issues or situations should be directed to an experienced motor vehicle accident attorney. NOTE: The following material is protected by all applicable State and Federal Copyright laws. Published May, 2005.

Injuries caused by a defective product may give rise to a product liability claim or case. In the context of motor vehicle accidents, there are two primary areas related to product liability claims. One area is related to the crashworthiness of a specific vehicle and the other relates to a defective component of a motor vehicle. If you suspect that you may have a potential product liability claim or case it is important to contact an experienced product liability attorney as soon as possible. NOTE: Preservation of evidence, specifically the suspected defective vehicle and/or component, is critical for the successful prosecution of a product liability case. If the suspected defective vehicle is in the possession or control of an insurance company, notify the company immediately (in writing) of your suspicion and ask them to preserve the vehicle so as to allow further investigation.

It should also be noted that Product Liability claims and cases are very expensive to successfully prosecute. Under Alabama law, the victim in a civil claim for restitution carries the burden of proof. In a Product Liability claim this means the victim must prove the product in question was defective. This requires the victim, and the victim’s attorney, to provide competent evidence to prove a product was defective. Because the issues in such a case are very technical and require a high degree of specific knowledge, expert review and testimony is almost always required. Securing this expert testimony can be very expensive. Even if a component such as a seat belt or an air bag fails to operate as designed, the burden of proof is still on the victim. This means the victim still has to support such a claim with expert testimony to show that the component failure was in fact because of a defect and not some other cause, such as misuse or improper maintenance. The burden of proof issue, and the related expenses, often make it uneconomical for victims to pursue product liability claims or cases for minor injuries.

For more information on defects related to motor vehicles and to report a suspected defective vehicle or component, please visit the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) web site. A link to their web site is provided below.

Crashworthiness

According to NHTSA, every ten seconds someone in the United States is involved in a motor vehicle accident. The fact is that car accidents do occur and they are foreseeable to automobile manufacturers. This means automobile manufacturers have a duty to design cars to protect occupants from injury in certain types of collisions or accidents. Crashworthiness is the ability of a vehicle to prevent or limit injuries when an accident occurs. The failure to timely incorporate known safety features, such as three point safety belts for rear passengers, is often the issue in dispute in a crashworthiness claim or case. Other areas of recent concern include roof crush, side impact air bags, crumple zones, occupant ejection, roll-over propensity and side impact safety.

Defective Component

Sometimes motor vehicle accidents are caused by the failure of a key component such as a tire separating or brakes failing. Other times injuries may occur in an accident because of the failure of a safety device such as seat belts or air bags to operate properly. Because a motor vehicle is a complex machine incorporating numerous components, there are hundreds of potential component failures and/or defects. If you suspect an accident, and resulting injury, was caused by a defective component or you believe an injury was received in an accident because of a defective component, you should undertake steps to document the events and secure the component.