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Vehicle Defects & Vehicle Safety Recalls
There are more than 60 million vehicles produced in the world each year. The United States alone manufactures several million passenger vehicles every year, ranking it fifth in the world for production. In 2013, the United States produced more than 4.5 million vehicles, up from its 4.1 million vehicle production in 2012. That adds up to a lot of cars, trucks, and SUVs on the road, and it leaves open the question as to how safe these vehicles really are.
Many Americans rely on their vehicles for daily transportation, and we use our vehicles for work, pleasure and traveling with loved ones. When a vehicle malfunctions or a part is defective, the results can be deadly. We depend on the safety devices included in vehicles to function properly every time, but during some accidents, safety devices fail to work or deploy. This can lead to serious injury and even death, and if you have been injured in an accident due to vehicle defects, you should know your rights to compensation.
Many parts on a vehicle can become defective or fail to work properly. The reasons may vary, but it is possible that the design or manufacturing of the part or vehicle is to blame. A product's design may not allow the product to work as it should, or defective material may be used to manufacture the part. A product liability attorney at Warner, Sechrest & Butts, P.A. is available to help you get back to a sense of normalcy after a serious auto accident, which can include filing personal injury suits due to vehicle defects.
There are many ways a vehicle can fail or become unsafe.
Tire Failures
Tire defects, such as tire tread separation, can be deadly. When traveling at high speeds, a popped or blown tire can cause a serious accident. And depending on the type of vehicle, rollovers or roof crushing can be an additional cause for concern when you experience an accident due to faulty tires.
Vehicle Rollover
Sports Utility Vehicles (SUVs) are prone to rollovers due to the unusually high center of gravity of the vehicles. SUV rollover accidents can occur during an accident or a turning maneuver, among other situations, that can result in serious injury.
Seatbelt Failures
Wearing a seatbelt can be a hotly debated issue, but the bottom line is that seatbelts are meant to protect us. When faulty seatbelts malfunction or are defective, passengers can be seriously injured. A broken latch may allow a passenger to be thrown from the vehicle.
Airbags save lives every day by deploying during a high-impact accident. But when airbags fail to deploy, fail to inflate, or cause serious injury upon inflation, accidents can become deadly. Violent airbag deployment and inflation can cause head and neck injuries, as well as swelling and bruising to the face. Airbag defects may even spew debris at the driver or passenger, inflicting injuries. Defective airbags may also deploy and inflate during inappropriate times, such as less severe accidents. When a driver or passenger is not expecting an airbag to deploy, serious injuries may occur.
Vehicle Roof Collapse
A vehicle's roof may collapse or be crushed during an accident, especially rollover accidents. Pickup trucks and SUVs are the most common vehicle driven that can cause serious head or neck injury due to a roof collapse during an accident because they often lack the necessary safety equipment and protection.
Fuel fires may make for an exciting movie scene, but fires due to leaking fuel lines or ruptured fuel tanks are not entertaining. These types of vehicle fires can end in multiple deaths, making a less severe accident turn fatal.
Door Latch Failures
Having a door open unexpectedly can be deadly. While passengers are expected to wear their seatbelts, in the event of an accident, a door latch may fail and allow the door to open, throwing passengers from the vehicle. Small children often try to slip out of their safety seats and seatbelts, and with a defective door latch or lock, some innocent squirming around can have devastating effects.
Defective Seat Backs
Not many people consider the possibility of a defective seat back, but there are several parts of a vehicle's seat that can fail and result in injury to the passenger. The back of the seat serves as a restraint during a rear-end collision, but if the seat back does not function properly, a passenger may experience back, neck and head injury or even death.
Choose a Florida Product Liability Lawyer Who Will Fight for You
Vehicle manufacturers in the United States issue vehicle recalls when a vehicle or part has been identified as defective. Vehicle safety recalls are voluntary, and the manufacturer decides whether they will repair or replace the part in question depending on the urgency of the problem. There are two things we find wrong with vehicle recalls from manufacturers: vehicle owners may not have access to the recalls and warnings, and these recalls are only made after hundreds of vehicles and parts malfunction, which means hundreds of people could have already been harmed.
Let us Advocate For You When You Need It The Most.
If you or a loved one suffered an injury due to a vehicle defect, then you should seek legal representation. A Gainesville attorney from our personal injury law firm will stand by you and fight for your rights. Don't let a big-name vehicle manufacturer and its teams of lawyers bully you or make you feel as though the vehicle's defect is your fault. Let the product liability attorneys of Warner, Sechrest & Butts take on the lawyers while you focus on recovery.
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