Seat belts are an effective means of restraint when designed and manufactured properly and installed correctly. However, seat belts become absolutely useless in an automobile accident when the seat itself fails. A car seat which is defectively designed or installed incorrectly can come loose in an impact, hurtling the occupant in the passenger compartment, injuring both the occupant and any others who also happen to be in the cabin.
Auto seat defects can occur in a variety of ways:
Seat Backs
If a seat back collapses rearward in a rear impact crash there is the potential to injure the occupant and the passenger in the seat behind. Such defects often result in brain or spinal cord injury. Neither the seat belt nor the airbag can prevent injury when this product defect occurs. More info
Seat Tracks
If the force of a rear impact causes the seat tracks to separate, the seat will collapse backward and throw the occupant toward the rear of the vehicle, likely causing head and neck injury and harm to anyone unfortunate enough to be sitting in the rear seat. Both seat back collapses and seat track separations can occur at relatively low speeds, turning otherwise minor incidents into permanently disabling catastrophic injuries or resulting in death.
Rear Seats
Many rear seats are designed to fold down to provide extra storage space. A poorly-designed rear seat can malfunction in a crash, folding over on the occupant or allowing cargo to hurl forward from the trunk/hatch area into the passenger compartment.
Experienced Legal Representation
While any injury is hurtful to experience both physically and emotionally, it is truly tragic when severe injury occurs in an otherwise minor collision, or due to a faulty design that could have been avoided. Our attorneys have the experience, knowledge and resources to maximize the recovery obtained for our clients.
If you or a loved one has been injured in an automobile accident due to a defective car seat, contact our office to speak with an experienced lawyer about holding the manufacturer accountable for its conduct. More information on this website