The carmaker and the part maker may share liability, and, if it fails in one car, it may have failed in many others. This might not be a simple product liability; it may be a class-action suit. If it is, that’s all the more reason to have an experienced personal injury lawyer, and David Morgan is that lawyer in Utah and Idaho.
The Problems
Defectively Manufacture — Automobiles operate under very stressful conditions. At 60 miles per hour, you travel the length of a football field in under four seconds. The combustion chamber in the engine runs around 700 degrees. Obviously, things wear out and need replacement but, when a part (even a small one like a single connector) wasn’t crafted to withstand the stresses, it can break prematurely, causing catastrophic failure — a crash with property damage, injuries, death or all of those.
Dangerous Design — As cars and trucks get more complex, more parts (including software, sensors, computers, etc.) need to work together in harmony to keep you on the road. For example, if the design team lightened a vehicle (for better gas mileage) with smaller axles, they may accidentally choose axles that can’t hold the full weight that vehicle is advertised to carry.
In either case, it could be an isolated incident — one bad bolt or an owner who overloads his vehicle — or it may be an entire model year — literally thousands of vehicles. It could happen within days of the purchase or the vehicles may be on the road for years before the flaws are discovered.
The Solutions
Idaho and Utah state law, as well as federal law, provide relief for individuals who suffer property damage, personal injury or death resulting from product liability issues. If your mechanic accidentally put the wrong parts in a repair, that individual alone is liable for that specific mistake. If the car company designed a flaw in its vehicles, the company is liable for all the damage by all their cars. If the car company issued a recall and the owner failed to get the fix offered, the owner could be held liable if you were injured in an accident he may have caused.
To call the whole concept complex is an understatement. Class action suits could involve thousands of participants and take years to resolve. Call your nearest Morgan Law Firm office and discuss your situation with a member of our team, we’ll do our best to get you justice.
