Crashworthiness
Crashworthiness is a term used by people in the automobile industry to describe the ability of a vehicle to survive an accident and prevent injury or death to the driver and passengers. This level of safety varies from car maker to car maker, and even within specific models and bodies, but essentially it is the most important aspect of any vehicle.
Most people outside the automotive industry believe that crashworthiness and vehicle safety are the same thing; vehicle safety encompasses crashworthiness, but also takes into account other factors as well. Vehicles can be safer, but still not crashworthy. Conversely, vehicles can have aspects that make them extremely safe, such as multiple airbags and seatbelts, but have a defect that decreases their crashworthiness, such as construction flaws or design oversights.
Crashworthiness also differs from vehicle damage in that it reflects the amount of injuries sustained by passengers in a vehicle accident. Vehicle damage is a mostly technical means of expressing the amount of physical dimensions of the vehicle without considering the physical trauma caused to its occupants.
There are many types of potential defects that can reduce crashworthiness. Defective airbags, defective seatbelts, defective crumple zones, defective head rests, anything that is designed to reduce injury but fails to do so is a crashworthiness defect. The federal government sets minimum standards for these defects, but it is up to automobile manufacturers to maintain these standards, and if they do not they can be held liable for injury or damage.
If you or someone you love was injured in an automobile accident and crashworthiness was a significant issue, you need to consult a lawyer immediately. You could be entitled to financial compensation for your pain and suffering, but if you hesitate the statute of limitation time restrictions could end your case before it has a chance to begin. Contact a crashworthiness attorney today.
Automotive Defect Attorneys
Defective Seat Belts
Ever since seatbelts have become standard safety features in automobiles over the past 30 years, there has been a significant decrease in the number of serious injuries caused by vehicle accidents. Even though seatbelt technology has advanced a great deal over the decades, the best protective measures are worthless if they are defective or poorly constructed.
Seatbelt defects can include a variety of conditions including weakened webbing, retractor failure, false latching, inertial unlatching, and systems failure. Any one of these factors is potentially dangerous, but in combination they are deadly. The great tragedy of defective seatbelts is that no one discovers the problem with a seatbelt until an accident occurs, and by that time it is most likely too late.
Inertial unlatching is caused when a seatbelts opens during a collision. The seatbelt release button is triggered, and the passenger is released from the restraints. Weakened webbing occurs when damaged or torn webbing fails to restrain the passenger from the forces of an accident. Retractor failure is caused when the device that provides slack for the seatbelt to fail to lock when force acts on it, causing the person to move with the force of the accident. False latching occurs when the lock on the two parts of the seatbelt fail to connect properly, and can cause serious injury if unnoticed.
If you or someone you know suffered extensive injuries due to a defective seatbelt, you need to take immediate legal action. Statute of limitations laws restrict the amount of time you have to press your case, and if you hesitate too long you risk losing your right to the compensation you may deserve. Contact a dedicated and experienced defective seat belt attorney today.
Defective Airbags
Airbags are safety features in modern cars that provide an extra layer of support and protection during a vehicle accident. There are several types of modern airbags, including frontal, passenger, and side impact, and each has a specific role in protecting passengers and driver. Airbag standards are set by the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard Act 208, Occupant Crash Protection, and the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration mandated every car built since 1998 has been required to have frontal airbags.
Unfortunately, airbags are prone to a number of serious and potentially fatal defects. Airbags can fail to deploy during an accident, or deploy too late, or deploy after the accident, injuring not only the occupant but any rescue personnel as well. Airbag design is also a factor in many airbag accidents, as most airbags are designed for adult men and do not take into account smaller framed people such as women or young adults. The quality of an airbag and its sensors can lead significant injury and danger as well.
Should an air bag fail to activate, the passenger risks suffering severe trauma caused by a vehicle accident. Furthermore, if an airbag deploys during a low speed accident, the occupants risk face and eye damage. It is not uncommon for airbags to cause detached retinas, cornea scars, ruptured eyeballs, broken teeth, and broken noses.
Airbags are designed to save lives, not to inflict pain. If you or someone you love was injured by a defective airbag you need to know that you have rights. You must act quickly, for time restraints dictated by the statute of limitations can prevent you from pursing legal action if you wait too long. Let a dedicated and knowledgeable attorney fight for your rights and help you get the compensation you deserve.
Defective Door Latch | Defective Brakes | Defective Gas Tanks
Cars are complicated, dangerous machines. Any number of factors can cause injury, but car manufacturers must still produce the safest vehicles possible, and free of any potentially life-threatening defects. Unfortunately, this is rarely the case, and defective door latches, defective brakes, and defective gas tanks cost thousands of people their every year.
Several Ford vehicles are known to suffer from defective door latches that could cause injury. The Ford Focus model years 2000-2002 were recently recalled due to corrosion of the door latch. Additionally the F150 (1997-2000), F-250 (1997-2002), and Ford Expedition (1997-2000) could suffer from the same defective door latch.
Defective brakes are even deadlier than defective door latches, because brakes are absolutely integral to the safety of a vehicle. There are many ways brakes can fail, but for the most part defects in the design and manufacture of these surprisingly complex systems result in disaster. Parking brakes, brake lines, antilock brakes, brake pads, rotors, brake shift interlocks can all fail due to defects, but few people realize they have a problem until it is too late.
Perhaps the most dangerous situation is a defective gas tank. General Motors was the object in almost 300 lawsuits that garnered the burn and explosion victims of defective gas tanks over $495 million. GM knew of the defect, but yet did nothing to correct it. Furthermore, Ford Pintos and Crown Victorias suffered from deadly rear gas tank explosions that resulted in major loss of life and governmental investigations.
If a defective gas tank, defective brake, or defective door latches caused you or someone you know to suffer undue pain and suffering, you need to contact a defective auto part attorney immediately. You could be entitled to take legal action against those responsible, but if you hesitate the statute of limitations time restrictions could prevent you from getting the settlement you deserve. Contact an attorney today.
Defective Tires
Even though tires are quite possibly one of the most important aspects of any vehicle’s safety system, many people overlook them or take them for granted. Unfortunately, the reality is that defective tires are one of the most common causes of accidents on the roads, streets, and highways in the United States each year. Tire failures are a leading cause of rollovers in vehicles with narrow wheelbases and high centers of gravity, such as many light trucks and SUVs.
Tires are usually defective due to a flaw in either the manufacturing or design process. Recent examples such as the Firestone recall of ATX and Wilderness tires on Ford Explorers, Continental General Tires on Lincoln Navigators, Firestone Steeltex tires on Excursions, and Goodyear Load Range E tires illustrate how product defects can wreak havoc on the roads and endanger the lives of thousands of people.
The most common type of tire defect is cause by tread belt separation in steel-belted radials. If these tires do not live up to manufacturer specifications they can cause blowouts and catastrophic rollover accidents. Most tire manufacturers claim that defective tires are not the culprit in many of these accidents, and that it was some failure on the part of the consumer. Unfortunately for them, experienced test drivers using recalled defective tires on test vehicles still experienced tread separation, loss of control, and even rollover.
If you or someone you love was involved in an accident due to a defective tire, you need to consult a lawyer immediately. You may be able to recover financial compensation for your situation, but if you wait too long the time restraints set by the statute of limitations could end your case before it has a chance to begin. Contact a defective tire attorney today.
Roof Crush Attorneys & Lawyers
Roof crushes occur when a car loses contact with the ground and rolls over onto its roof. The most dangerous rollovers occur during SUV accidents. Most passenger cars have a low enough center of gravity spread over their wheelbase that rollovers are relatively rare, and when they do occur most cars do not weigh enough to cause serious damage.
Unfortunately, the standards for rollover accidents is over 30 years old, and when the law was written it could not envision the heavy SUVs and vans in common use today. SUVS are some of the vehicles most prone to rollovers because they have a narrow wheelbase and a high center of gravity, and are likely to tip over during aggressive maneuvering or a side collision. Furthermore, when they do rollover their excessive weight causes them to collapse on their roofs.
It is for this reason that even though rollovers make up only 3% of all highway accidents they account for 30% of all accident fatalities. Automobile manufacturers still use the same decades old standard that manages to seriously injure 800 people and kill 600 more each year. These injuries and deaths occur even if airbags deploy and proper seatbelt use. Until car manufacturers take the responsibility to provide safe vehicles to the public, more and more people will continue to die on our nation’s highways and roads.
A rollover roof crush accident is a tragic and heartbreaking experience if it harms you or someone you love. If you are the victim of a rollover roof crush, you need to consult an experienced and dedicated rollover accident attorney today. Your time to take action is restricted by the statute of limitations, and if you wait too long you could lose your right to compensation for your damages and loss. Contact a lawyer today.
Other Personal Injury Topics
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