The Hidden Dangers of the Products We Use Every Day
Tens of thousands of people are injured each year in accidents caused by defective products. Manufacturers are expected to do all that they reasonably can to ensure that using their products is safe, and they can be ordered to pay compensation to injured consumers when they fail to meet this duty of care.
Popular Products That Turned Out to Be Defective
Even Fortune 500 companies that spend enormous amounts of money on designing, testing and manufacturing their products have been successfully sued by injured consumers. The Ford Motor Company faced a wave of product liability lawsuits in the 1970s after a design defect was discovered in the Ford Pinto that made the subcompact car’s fuel tank susceptible to rupture in rear-end collisions. Ford was ordered to pay punitive as well as compensatory damages to accident victims because evidence emerged that revealed the company knew about the problem and released the car anyway.
Products are sometimes recalled because of manufacturing issues in the supply chain. Modern motor vehicles are made using parts from dozens of manufacturers, and one of the world’s largest airbag suppliers was the Japanese company Takata. Auto manufacturers including Honda, Ford, Nissan, Toyota and Mazda used Takata airbags, but they don’t anymore. Since 2013, more than 100 million Takata airbags have been recalled because a manufacturing defect could make them deploy without warning. The defect claimed the lives of 28 people in the United States alone, and it forced Takata out of business.
What Should I Do If I Am Injured by a Defective Product
If you are injured by a defective product, your chances of receiving fair compensation will be far better if you seek medical treatment right away and follow your doctor’s orders. If you decline treatment or fail to show up at medical appointments, the company that made the defective product could claim that you are not as badly injured as you claim to be. You should also keep track of your medical costs and the amount of time you have to take off work as this information will be needed to determine how much compensation you are entitled to.
Tips for Filing a Product Liability Claim
If you decide to sue the manufacturer of a product that injured you, the case will likely be resolved at the negotiating table. The party on the other side of the table will almost certainly have deep pockets and talented lawyers, so it would be a good idea to go into these discussions with an equally experienced attorney at your side.
If your case goes to court, your attorney will have to prove that you suffered injury, loss or damage as a direct consequence of a product defect or design flaw. He or she will also have to convince the court that you were using the product as it was intended to be used when you were injured.
Bad Publicity
Manufacturers can be ordered to pay tens of millions of dollars in damages when their products injure consumers, but the bad publicity that product liability lawsuits attract could cost them even more. This is why product liability cases are usually settled discretely, and it is also why you should speak to a lawyer as soon as possible if you are injured by a defective product.
