What defects cause car, truck and SUV accidents?
We place a great deal of trust in our vehicles. Drivers often travel at high speeds regularly without giving it a second thought.
Most of the time, this trust is well-founded. If we keep up with regular maintenance and inspection, we can usually rely on our vehicles to get us where we need to go.
But vehicles fail their drivers in unexpected ways. A tire blows out, brakes stop working, or the steering malfunctions. The result of these failures can be catastrophic injury or death.
Victims of mechanical flaws need to analyze how and why the event occurred. You could assume it was a coincidence or a stroke of bad luck, but there could be more behind it. These incidents occur in certain circumstances because a components manufacturer, mechanic, or other person was reckless, putting you in a risky situation without your knowledge.
If you believe a car malfunction caused an accident in which you were harmed or a loved one was wounded or died, you should investigate all of your legal options. A car accident lawyer can analyze your case and advise you on your possible claims.
Defective Parts That Frequently Lead to Accidents
Let us begin by going through the three categories of product defects:
Defective Design
A design flaw is an issue in how an item was designed before it was ever manufactured. Because of the defect in the design, the product (such as a car part) fails to meet industry and safety requirements.
Manufacturing Flaws
On the other hand, manufacturing faults relate to flaws in the manufacturing process. The product’s ideas were good, however, they were not followed during the production process. The product is faulty as a result of manufacturing and assembly mistakes.
Insufficient Warning/Failure to Warn
Finally, failure to warn describes a circumstance in which the inherent risks of a product are not adequately disclosed to customers. Even if a product is utilized for its intended purpose, inadequate warnings might result in damage or death.
What Flaws Cause Cars to Be Unsafe?
When it comes to mechanical flaws that cause automobile accidents, the deficiencies are often of the first two sorts. The following are examples of design defects and production errors:
Tires with defects
Tires, as we all know, are not inexpensive. We do everything possible to extend the life of our tires.
Unfortunately, tire manufacturers frequently calculate tire durability claims, which may not be an accurate picture of how long your tires are truly safe. When this is combined with the fact that extremely worn tires can cause tread separation (which can cause disastrous accidents at high speeds), it is evident how dangerous a faulty tire can be.
Defective tires can be caused by factors other than manufacturer negligence. Defective tires can also be caused by a tire provider installing the incorrect tires on your car or failing to properly mount the tires, resulting in an accident.
Brakes That Aren’t Working
As our vehicles get more complex, the sorts of faults that might occur expand. When it comes to brakes, faults might occur in the hydraulic system (for example, a brake fluid leak), the electrical system (for example, a faulty brake light), or the mechanical system (such as an inappropriate material used).
When a manufacturer or mechanic fails to exercise proper caution when creating or repairing your car’s brake system, it can lead to a variety of issues that might result in a major collision.
Defects in Steering
Steering problems, like malfunctioning brakes, are particularly dangerous since they make controlling your car difficult, if not impossible. Even at modest speeds, a flaw in your car’s steering system might force you to collide with another vehicle or a stationary object, resulting in significant injury, property damage, and other consequences.
Malfunctions of the Engine
Car engines can differ substantially from one another, especially with the advent of electric vehicles. However, regardless of engine type, design and manufacturing flaws can cause stalls, fires, inadvertent downshifting, and other issues that can endanger drivers.
Unfortunately, manufacturers are sometimes aware of these flaws but choose not to address them owing to the high expense of recalls. This can endanger the lives of unwary motorists.
Ignition and Fuel Systems Faults
Defective ignition and fuel systems provide a distinct difficulty than the flaws previously described. Instead of increasing the likelihood of an accident, failures in these systems might make a collision worse than it would have been otherwise.
A defective fuel system, for example, might result in a fuel spill following an accident. This can cause a fire, resulting in severe burn injuries. As a result, while the deficiency may not have caused the accident, it may have resulted in preventable injuries and subsequent damages suffered by the accident victim.
Who Is Liable in the Event of a Defective Vehicle Accident?
Finally, defective automobiles might be the consequence of carelessness on the side of vehicle manufacturers, component manufacturers, technicians, and others. As a result, culpability is determined by the specific facts of each event.
Without legal assistance, determining who is at fault is difficult. A skilled attorney can construct a compelling case supported by evidence that clearly shows how a vehicle flaw or malfunction contributed to the accident and how someone else’s carelessness resulted in your injuries.
Contact an Auto Defects Lawyer
Our car defect attorney has helped many clients nationwide recover money for amputations, asphyxiations, burn injuries, brain trauma, spinal cord injury, death, and other catastrophic disabilities caused by defective SUVs, cars, and other vehicles. David P. Willis is board certified as a personal injury trial law specialist. We’ve put in a lot of effort to get the best results for our clients, and we’ll do the same for you and your loved ones. Call us at 713-654-4040 or 1-800-883-9858.