Crashworthiness is an extremely important part of vehicle safety; as it is the ability that a vehicle has to prevent serious physical injuries to the driver and passengers during a collision. Depending upon the type of accident which occurs, be it head-on, rear-end, side-impact, or a rollover, the driver or passengers may suffer from a variety of serious injuries. In many cases, the occupants may suffer from acceleration and deceleration injuries, such as whiplash or head and facial injuries if their head hits the dashboard. When a car is adequately crashworthy it may help prevent injuries which happen as the result of the force involved in the accident.
There are five main factors which are considered when evaluating the crashworthiness of a vehicle, which are:
- Control Energy
- Maintain Survival Space
- Packaging
- Fire Prevention
- Restrain & Prevent Ejection
The following crashworthiness elements are intended to reduce the risk of auto accident related injuries, such as:
- Seatbelts
- Airbags
- Side impact protection
- Safer windows and windshields
- Interior padding
- Crumple Zones
- Solid Roof
Although these safety features have been available since the 1970s, many vehicle manufacturers did not choose to equip their vehicle until the 1990s.
Some vehicles that have been recalled due to inadequate crashworthiness include the following:
- 2019 Mercedes Seatback Failure
- Dodge Fire Hazard
- Ford Fire Risk
- Ford Seatbelt
- Honda Airbag
- Hyundai Airbag
- Mazda Fire Risk
- Nissan Fire Hazard
- Porsche Roof Safety
- Toyota Seatbelt
- Toyota Airbag
Defective or faulty safety attributes will not provide the amount of protection which is needed to prevent serious bodily injuries during an accident. If you were involved in a car crash and suffered injuries as the result of your vehicle not being properly crashworthy due to defective safety features, contact our office for a free consultation. Our California crashworthiness attorneys will investigate every aspect of your case and determine if the vehicle manufacturer used their knowledge to foresee your type of accident and if they could have better designed the vehicle to prevent the related injuries. The court system has also stated that automobile manufacturers provide consumers with a safe vehicle which will offer the driver and passenger with a high amount of protection.
Product Liability In California
Vehicles that are recalled due to crashworthiness issues are recalled because they are defective. California law holds manufacturers of defective products financially liable for injuries caused by defective products.
Defective vehicles may contain design defects and/or manufacturing defects.
Manufacturing defects are defects which are the result of something that went wrong during the manufacturing process. This means the products are dangerous because they differ from the manufacturer’s specifications or design or from other typical units in the same product line.
Design defects, however, are defects inherent to the design of the product. Nothing went wrong during the manufacturing process. The product was manufactured correctly, yet is still unsafe because the design itself is unsafe. Products with design defects don’t perform as safely as ordinary consumers would expect them to perform.
You may be eligible for financial compensation if you were injured by your vehicle’s manufacturing defect or design defect.
California Defective Vehicle Lawyers
If you have been seriously injured as the result of a dangerous automobile, you need the representation of a law firm that will fight to hold negligent manufacturers responsible for injuries caused by their product and recover the largest amount of monetary compensation for your injuries. Our aggressive attorneys have the experience and knowledge which are needed to successfully represent a crashworthiness case. As a result of our skill and legal knowledge, we have recovered over $750 million for our clients.
Call Nadrich Accident Injury Lawyers now for a free consultation regarding your crashworthiness accident.
