After a traumatic car accident, the first thing most people want to do is heal. After that, the question usually arises of who should pay for that recovery.
Some victims look to the other driver whose negligence or recklessness contributed to or caused the injury. There could be another party to blame, at least in part: The cars’ manufacturers.
Automotive recalls
One look at the Cars.com list of recall alerts would be enough for anyone to see that some cars come off the assembly line with their fair share of defects. It is rare for more than a couple of weeks to pass without another recall announcement.
In some cases, registered owners receive mailings or other communications about their vehicles’ defects. However, even major problems can slip past notice in the chaos of day-to-day life.
Legal liability
Owners of defective automobiles could face the risk of increased severity of injuries during a crash. Engineering, labeling, maintenance and design issues could even cause accidents in the first place.
As explained on FindLaw, this could bring up an issue of product liability. Parties who benefit from the sale and design of vehicles could face legal and financial consequences if those vehicles cause injury that leads to loss. Basically, if someone were to make a dangerous car, they might have to pay whoever got hurt driving it.
As explained in the FindLaw article, auto companies have a responsibility to make cars that perform as consumers would reasonably assume. In most crash situations involving product defects, people are using their vehicles as one would expect and are therefore entitled to compensation — despite what car-manufacturer lawyers might want others to believe.