Auto Defects

Sacramento Personal Injury Lawyer Discusses Automotive Product Liability

The world we live in today has been created by manufacturing tools and creating processes that make our lives easier and more efficient, and the automobile has completely revolutionized the way we live our lives. We have come a long way from the invention of the automobile, and that has been done over years of engineering systems and testing their safety and efficiency. This process is still going on today and although we have come a long way, there are still products being manufactured that have inherent safety issues and design flaws.

When an individual is injured or property is damaged resulting from the of use of a product, injured parties have the right to make an injury claim. Manufacturers carry insurance called product liability insurance that is in place to ensure they can cover any liabilities that arise from the use of their products. The same goes for automobile manufacturers, and this industry experiences a high rate of product liability claims due to its size and complexity. There are hundreds of parts on your vehicle that could fail, and they are all produced by different manufacturing companies and plants working independently to build the vehicle you are riding in. The failure could be as simple as a poor electrical connection, leading to fire, or as serious as an engine design flaw that can lead to explosion. To keep things simple, we will divide auto product liability claims into two categories:

Defectively Manufactured Vehicles Or Parts

There is a whole lot that goes into manufacturing a vehicle, and a lot of different players are involved. This creates a situation in which mistakes can be made and go unnoticed until catastrophe strikes. Problems in a manufacturing process can occur at any time and for many different reasons, and this can lead to the production of an unsafe product that is prone to failure. Sometimes a product can be manufactured correctly but is damaged during shipping or storage. The end result is the same – an unsafe and damaged automotive product that can cause serious and fatal injuries.

Vehicles Or Parts With A Dangerous Design

Automotive parts failures are not limited to mistakes during the manufacturing process, and mistakes during the design phase often prove more dangerous. Thousands of hours of design and testing go into the production of automotive parts and an even greater amount of time is spent designing the completed automobile. Even with all that time and money spent, mistakes are made, and people’s lives are put in danger. Some vehicles are unsafe and prone to rollover, while others do not perform in crash situations the way in which they were advertised and designed. These are all instances in which an injured party should make a claim against the defective product.

The current situations which have garnered the most intense scrutiny with regards to automotive defects involve:

• Unintended acceleration – A malfunctioning throttle system sends the vehicle into bouts of uncontrolled acceleration.
• Brake failures – The brakes fail to properly operate as a result of manufacturing error or installation error.
• Rollover and roof crush – An improper vehicle design makes it prone to rolling over. The vehicle structure and roof are not adequately designed to handle impacts during rollovers, causing a cave in and serious injury.
• Containment of occupants in the car – Occupants are ejected from vehicles due to failed seatbelts or improper design.
• Protecting occupants from striking the inside of the car – Occupants are not properly secured in place as a result of seat belt or interior design or failure.
• Tires and traction – The tire design or manufacturing leads to failures, including tire blowouts that can cause a vehicle to completely lose control.

If you have been injured as the result of a defective automobile part or feel that the overall design of the vehicle contributed to your injury, you should contact the automotive liability attorneys in Sacramento at The Weinberger Law Firm. Our Sacramento automotive liability attorneys are experts in product liability law and will fight to get you the compensation you deserve. Call our Sacramento personal injury lawyer today for a free consultation!