Automotive Product Liability (Crashworthiness)

An automobile should be designed and manufactured to protect its occupants during an impact. When vehicle occupants are injured, manufacturers and sellers of automobiles may be legally obligated to compensate buyers and users for damages, injuries, and death suffered because of an unsafe design.

The Law Offices of James S. Rogers has represented clients in many kinds of automotive product liability cases. Our firm has successfully resolved complex litigation against companies and entities with virtually unlimited legal resources, including:

• General Motors Corporation
• Ford Motor Company
• DaimlerChrysler Corporation
• Nissan Motor Company
• Mazda Motor Corporation
• Honda Motor Company
• Toyota Motor Corporation
• Suzuki Motor Corporation

Our firm has represented clients in a number of automotive product liability cases, including:

• Toyota Sudden Unintended Acceleration
• Airbag Deployment or Non-Deployment
• Roof Crush
• Child Safety Seats
• Helmets
• All Terrain Vehicles (ATVs) / Utility Terrain Vehicles (UTVs)

Toyota Sudden Unintended Acceleration

Sudden Unintended Acceleration (SUA) is neither a new phenomenon nor limited to Toyota vehicles. Since the 1980s, SUA has been a contentious topic in automotive circles, particularly between those aligned with the driver-error school-of-thought and those unconvinced by its inability to fully explain the scenarios reported by witnesses. With the introduction of sophisticated electronics controlling mechanical systems, or Electronic Control Module (ECM), vehicles are now complex interfaces. A holistic examination of SUA will require investigation into the relationship between a vehicle’s mechanical system and the electronics controlling it.

Since 1999, over two thousand Toyota and Lexus owners have reported to the National Highway Safety Administration (NHTSA) and other agencies that their vehicles could suddenly accelerate when the driver’s foot is on the pedal. As of February 5, 2010, there have been 814 crashes, 341 injuries, and 19 deaths likely related to Toyota and Lexus sudden unintended acceleration (SUA).

Toyota has had recalls to redesign floor mats, shorten the accelerator pedal for sticky accelerator pedals, and in certain Toyota models, install a brake override. Current vehicles involved in recent recalls include:

2005-2010 Avalon
2007-2010 Camry
2009-2010 Corolla
2008-2010 Highlander
2009-2010 Matrix
2004-2009 Prius
2010 Prius
2009-2010 RAV4
1998-2010 Sienna
2008-2010 Sequoia
2005-2010 Tacoma
2007-2010 Tundra
2009-2010 VENZA

Toyota has contended that the cause of SUA is not electronic, yet potential electronic causes need to be studied more closely. For more information: http://www.safetyresearch.net/toyota-sudden-unintended-acceleration

Airbag Deployment or Non-Deployment

Since the 1970s, when the first air bag systems were introduced in the United States, air bag systems have been modified as a result of technological improvements, research studies, and changes in driving trends and environments of usage. Airbags are a wonderful safety device. In the event of a crash, air bag systems should work to protect or minimize injury potential to an occupant. While air bags do save lives, airbags can have adverse effects for small stature people, children, and out-of-position occupants.

Current state of the art engineering would allow air bags to be designed with dual thresholds, improved folding patterns, special fabric coatings, and modification of deployment. Despite the advances in air bag designs, airbag-induced injuries continue to occur.

In recent years, it has been widely recognized that air bag protection is less necessary in low speed impacts. Since 2003, the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration (NHTSA) had more claims from airbag deployment and non-deployment than from any other component failure. As a result of these consumer complaints, in 1998, NHTSA amended FMVSS 208 to require dual front airbags and mandated depowered (or second generation) airbags.

Besides deploying aggressively, airbags may deploy late, caused in part by the location of sensors in the vehicle and the angle of impact. During a late deployment, an airbag has not fully inflated by the time the occupant contacts it. The inflation force causes injury to the occupant.

Roof Crush

During a rollover event, some vehicles’ roofs crush because they are weak or poorly designed to withstand collision impact forces. Roof crush is a serious risk to drivers and passengers when the roof intrudes into the occupant’s survival space, causing the occupant to sustain brain injury, paralysis, or death.

Alternative designs exist to prevent and/or minimize roof crush and roof crush related injuries. These designs include roll bars, reinforced roof supports, and electronic stability control units. Automotive manufacturers ultimately determine whether to install these basic roof crush protection mechanisms.

The phase-in for FMVSS 216a is scheduled to be implemented over the next few years with 100% compliance of manufactured vehicles by September 1, 2015. This standard provides for more stringent testing that will require manufacturers to design stronger roofs to pass. While NHTSA expects the new standard to save lives, the standard still does not go far enough to require automakers to protect occupants from roof crush.

Child Safety Seats

An evaluation of the “effectiveness” of child safety seat systems to reduce head injury found that there is twice as much of a chance for a child to suffer head injuries if the seat is not properly fastened when compared to a child in a correctly installed seat. In the 1980s, investigators found that between 65% and 75% of child safety seats in use were incorrectly used. These surprising numbers imply that instances of misuse may be related to an unsafe design.

In designing a product, manufacturers need to account for the abilities of an ordinary user. Methods of installation should be designed so that it does not depend upon a meticulous reading and comprehensive understanding of the instructions. The widely known fact that many individuals purchase car seats without manuals at second-hand shops or garage sales furthers the need to have an obvious installation method independent of any instructions manual.

Helmets

A helmet can provide protection only if it remains properly seated on the wearer’s head, the materials and design of the helmet afford adequate impact force absorption, and the integrity of the helmet and its component parts have not been compromised in a prior impact.

Whether evaluating injuries suffered during a motorcycle or bicycle accident, football or baseball game, hockey match, or equestrian event, the injury kinematics commonly involves the victim decelerating forward, his or her head flexing forward and impacting a stationary surface resulting in either a closed head injury or a spinal compression injury.

A helmet should be designed so that its component parts absorb the energy of the impact, thus reducing the forces imparted to the head, neck and spine.

A manufacturer’s design choice regarding material and style of a helmet’s shell, liner and retention system is a critical element in whether a helmet will be strong enough to withstand an impact but flexible enough to absorb impact forces. The helmet’s liner may be too rigid to absorb the impact forces or too soft to protect the wearer from impact forces with the ground, or other hard surface. The chin bar may break, or the shell may shatter too easily.