User:Nspils/auto products

Automobile Products Liability

When a person makes a claim for personal injury damages which have resulted from the presence of a dangerous or defective automobile, he asserts a product liability Product Liability claim against the automobile's manufacturer and/or the manufacturer of the component part or system.

= HISTORY =

Ralph Nader publishing the book Unsafe at Any Speed about the Chevrolet Corvair and defects found in other vehicles.

Pinto gas tank cases. In Grimshaw vs. Ford in which a jury found that Ford Motor Company had known about the unsafe design of the gas tank used in the Pinto, and as a result returned a verdict for punitive damages against Ford.

= CURRENT DEFECTS OF CONCERN =

Stability - Rollovers and Roof Crush
During the 1990's and early 2000's, there was an epidemic of accidents which involved the truck's or car's rolling over as a part of the behavior of the car in the incident. More concerning was the increasing number of "single car accidents" which involved rollovers.

Risk of Rollover - Instability of Vehicle Under Foreseeable Conditions
The National Transportation Safety has recognized the danger of rollovers, and the prevalence of rollovers as a result of the defect created by the design of many SUVs. NHTSA has actively campaigned against this design defect, including its adoption of its Rollover Resistance Safety Rating, and has actively promoted the adoption of Electronic Stability Control systems.

Static Stabilty Factor and J-Turn Tip-up test.

Roof Crush - Major Cause of Serious Injury and Deaths
Roof crush injury risks are higher in vehicles with a greater propensity to roll over. Because they are taller and narrower, SUVs, or sports utility vehicles, are three times more likely to roll over in an accident than are other passenger cars. In 1973, the government passed Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 216, creating a standard roof strength test to measure the integrity of roof structure in motor vehicles. This test was to apply to motor vehicles weighing six thousand pounds or less. Many SUVs weigh more than this, and are therefore exempt from compulsory safety standards that may be crucial to preventing roof crush injury. In light of SUV roof crush injury risks, consumer advocacy groups have urged the federal government to modify standards so that they include any vehicle weighing ten thousand pounds or less.

Roof pillars appear strong to the average consumer, but most of them consist of just sheet metal that is hollow on the inside at the cross sections. When an accident occurs involving roof structures with a filled inner space, the outcome has been shown to be safer due to a lesser amount of roof crush. Pillars filled with high-density foam can reduce the severity of a roof crush significantly, saving lives and reducing serious injuries. Overall, federal safety standards fail to provide roof strength requirements that adequately protect people from suffering roof crush injury in a rollover automobile accident. Despite federal standards, many vehicle roofs will easily crush a foot or more during a rollover accident. More stringent testing standards and minimum industry safety standards must be employed if the government hopes to adequately protect people from sustaining serious roof crush injury in automobile accidents.

Roof crush injury is most often the result of rollover automobile accidents. Roof crush injuries kill 10,000 people every year. Vehicle design is supposed to depend on a structural support system that creates a "survival space" that protects car occupants in a crash from injury due to roof crush. When a vehicle does not have the proper roof pillar strength, it will cause the roof to cave into the passenger compartment during an accident. A weak roof makes a vehicle defective, and roof crushes can cause serious and fatal injuries, including disabling brain and spinal injuries.

Keeping Occupants in their Seats
Car makers have been required to provide seat belts in passenger cars for many years.

Protecting Occupants from Striking Parts of the Car
Beside seat belts, the most important injury prevention devices in the car are front and side impact airbags.

Containment of Occupants in the Car
Many vehicle occupants are killed every year because they are ejected from a vehicle which has been involved in an accident, resulting in the ejected occupant being run over by the car or another car.

Tires
The part of the vehicle which is in contact with the ground are the tires. The need for safe tires is self-evident. However, when a tire is defective in its design or manufacture --- causing tire tread separation or sidewall failure, or when a car manufacturer instructs drivers of a vehicle to use the tires in an unsafe way (such as under-inflating tires in order to mask the dangerous handling characteristics of the vehicle),

=REFERENCES=

=EXTERNAL LINKS=

The United States Federal Government's Safer Car site, a project of the National Highway Transportation Safety Agency : your gateway to NHTSA's registry of defect investigations, recall notices, and safety ratings for automobiles sold in the United States.

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety : Publishes results of the Institute's own testing as well as its analysis of insurance company claims records. As a part of its ratings, the Institute acknowledges its own list of "safe vehicles".

Center for Auto Safety : Site with articles from a consumer's point of view.