Defective vehicles cause thousands of injuries and deaths annually. When auto defects—rather than driver error—cause accidents, injured parties can pursue product liability claims against vehicle manufacturers and component suppliers. These cases often involve a related concept called crashworthiness.
Types of Vehicle Defects
Design defects affect entire vehicle models. Examples include unstable designs prone to rollover, inadequate roof strength that collapses in rollovers, fuel tank placement susceptible to rupture, and steering or suspension systems that fail under normal conditions.
Manufacturing defects affect individual vehicles that deviate from specifications. Examples include improper welds or fasteners, contaminated fluids or materials, incorrectly installed components, and faulty electrical connections.
Component defects involve parts that fail regardless of vehicle design. Common defective components include tires that separate or blow out, airbags that fail to deploy or deploy improperly, seat belts that unlatch or tear, accelerators that stick, brakes that fail, and ignition switches that cut power while driving.
Crashworthiness Doctrine
Crashworthiness refers to a vehicle's ability to protect occupants during accidents. Manufacturers must design vehicles that provide reasonable protection in foreseeable crashes—even crashes the driver causes.
Crashworthiness claims allege that while the accident itself may not be the manufacturer's fault, defective design made injuries worse than they should have been. A vehicle that is safe to drive but provides inadequate crash protection can be defective.
Crashworthiness involves roof strength in rollovers, door integrity in side impacts, seat and seat belt performance, fuel system protection against fire, and airbag deployment and performance.
Enhanced Injury Claims
Enhanced injury claims seek compensation for the additional harm caused by vehicle defects beyond what a non-defective vehicle would have caused. You may recover for the difference between your actual injuries and what you would have suffered in a crashworthy vehicle.
These claims require expert testimony comparing actual injury outcomes to projected outcomes in a properly designed vehicle.
Common Vehicle Defect Cases
Rollover accidents often involve stability defects (vehicles too prone to roll) and roof crush (roofs that collapse, causing head and spine injuries). SUVs and trucks have historically been overrepresented in rollover litigation.
Airbag defects include failure to deploy, delayed deployment, over-aggressive deployment causing injury, and defective inflators (like the massive Takata recall involving exploding inflators).
Tire failures cause loss of control, rollovers, and collisions. Tread separation, sidewall blowouts, and bead failures can result from design problems or manufacturing errors.
Fuel system fires result from tanks or fuel lines that rupture in crashes, causing burn injuries and deaths that proper design would have prevented.
Evidence in Vehicle Defect Cases
Vehicle defect cases require substantial technical evidence. The vehicle itself is critical evidence and must be preserved. Don't let it be repaired, sold, or scrapped without consulting an attorney.
Other important evidence includes the vehicle's event data recorder ("black box") data, manufacturer design and testing documents, recall history and technical service bulletins, complaints to NHTSA about similar issues, and prior lawsuits involving the same defect.
Expert Testimony
Vehicle defect cases require expert witnesses in accident reconstruction (how the crash occurred), biomechanics (how injuries resulted), automotive engineering (how the defect caused or worsened the crash), and metallurgy or materials science (why components failed).
Expert testimony is essential to prove both the defect and causation. Juries need technical explanation to understand complex automotive systems.
Federal Safety Standards
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) establishes Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards (FMVSS) that all vehicles must meet. Violation of safety standards supports defect claims, though compliance doesn't necessarily prove a vehicle is safe.
NHTSA also investigates defects and orders recalls. A recall involving your vehicle's defect strongly supports your product liability claim.
Pursuing Your Claim
If you believe a vehicle defect caused or worsened your accident injuries, preserve the vehicle and all evidence. Document the accident scene and your injuries. Obtain the police report and any witness statements.
Contact an attorney experienced in automotive product liability. These complex cases require significant resources to investigate and litigate against well-funded manufacturers. Most automotive defect attorneys work on contingency.