Under federal law, car manufacturers and auto part suppliers are liable for injuries, damages, and deaths caused by defective cars and dangerous auto parts.
Product Liability Lawsuits and Claims
Surviving relatives and victims of defective cars can file product-related lawsuit against manufacturers who failed to provide safe vehicles to their consumers.
However, personal injury lawyers said that victims should secure their cars in a safe place and avoid making repairs which may tamper the evidence that may prove their claims.
Victims should also keep their medical records that will show the damages and injuries they sustained from the defective car models.
Most Controversial Product-related Lawsuits
• Ford Motor Co. and Its Rollover-prone SUV
During the 1990s, Ford Explorer has been linked to hundreds of deaths in the US. According to crashworthiness expert, this SUV has a defective design that makes it prone to rollover crash, which is the most dangerous car accident that kills more than 10,000 people every year.
• Chrysler and Its Gen3 Seatbelt
US carmaker giant Chrysler was involved in one of the most controversial product-related lawsuits in the US history with its defective seatbelt model called Gen3 which can inadvertently unlatch during a rollover crash or high-impact collision.
According to safety experts, Gen3’s buckle has no outside cover. With this faulty design, any objects or the occupant’s body parts such as elbow may accidentally hit the release button of the seatbelt.
Experts also blame Gen3’s defective design which has a release button that protrudes too high. This dangerous defect was identified after safety engineers hit the buckle with a 30mm ball and the seatbelt has unlatched.
After several studies were conducted, the Center for Auto Safety ordered Chrysler to announce a recall that covered more than 14 million car models manufactured between 1993 and 2002.
• Toyota and Its Weak Roof
This Japan-based car manufacturer was recently embroiled in a controversy after its former in-house lawyer Dimitrios Biller accused the company of destroying crashworthiness data and documents which can serve as evidences in product-related lawsuit.
With this accusation, a federal judge immediately announced a court injunction that will prevent Toyota from tampering and destroying all the evidences.
The car maker giant is currently facing several product-related lawsuits filed by surviving relatives and victims who claim that certain Toyota models have a very weak roof which failed to provide protection during a rollover crash.
Under federal standards, light vehicles should have a roof which can withstand one-and-a-half times the weight of the car.
By 2012, the roof strength requirement will be three times of the weight of a vehicle.
