by Paul J. Komyatte and James L. Gilbert
Identifying A Potential Crashworthiness Case
Auto design defects typically involve a failure to meet one or more of the crashworthiness design objections. While car accidents are unique events and must be evaluated on their own facts, the following facts, if present, are indicative of a potential defect:
Both serious and non-serious injuries. For example, if one belted occupant walks away while another belted occupant is paralyzed or suffers a serious head injury. This type of injury disparity is hardly ever due to "luck of the draw." There is usually a very good engineering explanation for why this occurs, and sometimes a defect is to blame.
Significant compromise of the occupant compartment, such as severe roof crush. While significant compromise of the occupant compartment is sometimes the product of an extremely severe crash, it can often be traced to a defect. Severe roof crush, for example, is frequently the product of weak or flimsy roof pillars and other supporting structures.
Serious injuries in a minor to moderate collision. In general, occupants should not be killed or paralyzed in minor or moderate collisions. When this occurs, there is a strong likelihood something has gone wrong.
Occupant ejection. Ejections frequently occur because of a defect, such as defective latches that allow doors or liftgates to open during accidents. While many ejection victims are unbelted, it should not be assumed that an occupant was unbelted simply because s/he was ejected. Certain seatbelts can become unlatched during an accident, leaving the occupant unbelted and susceptible to ejection through the large openings created by door latch failures. Other seat belts, such as door mounted belts, are rendered useless if the door opens.
An injured occupant is found wearing a loose-fitting seat belt. To be effective, seat belts need to be snug during an accident. This means that the seat belt retractor must "lock" the belt early in the accident sequence, before excessive webbing "pays" out of the retractor. This excessive webbing or "slack" can lead to serious injuries and is indicative of a poorly functioning restraint system. As little as two or three inches of slack can make a critical difference in an accident.
An occupant is found unbelted but either the occupant or another passenger insists he or she was wearing a seat belt. If the occupant was indeed belted but ended up getting ejected or otherwise was thrown out of his or her seat belt, the seat belt may have come unlatched during the collision, due to a seat belt buckle defect.
An occupant in a frontal collision makes contact with the windshield or steering wheel. Restraint systems should prevent injurious head contact with the vehicle interior, such as the windshield, dash and steering wheel. When an occupant strikes these parts of the vehicle and is seriously injured, potential defects in the restraint system, seating system or steering column should be investigated.
A seriously injured belted occupant in a vehicle with limited structural damage. For example, if there is limited roof crush and limited intrusion into the occupant compartment during a rollover yet a belted occupant sustains head or neck injuries. If the occupant compartment remains intact and the seat belt functions properly, serious injuries should typically not occur.
An occupant is killed or seriously injured in a moderate collision in which the air bag deploys. "First generation" air bags pack a tremendous punch and will sometimes fire in low speed collisions. Occupants – particularly children and short women who sit in a far forward position – have been killed and seriously injured by air bags in collisions that were otherwise easily survivable. Air bags can also cause serious injuries if they deploy late in an accident sequence, when an occupant is in the air bag's "zone of inflation."
Severe burns to an occupant with no other serious skeletal or internal injuries. As a general rule, an occupant should never survive a crash without serious bodily injury only to suffer burns in a fuel fed fire. The fuel system should be investigated when an occupant sustains serious burns in a fuel fed fire but no other life-threatening injuries.
A "collapsed" front seatback and injuries to either that seat's occupant or a rear seat occupant. The front seats in most cars on the road will collapse in relatively moderate rear impacts. Occupants seated in these seats can be injured when they slide up the collapsed seat back and strike portions of the vehicle interior. The collapsing seatback may also injure rear-seated occupants, such as infants in rear facing child seats.
Complete structural collapse or component failure. When a vehicle falls apart (i.e., breaks in half, loses its side panel) during a collision, the impact forces are either incredibly severe or something is wrong with the vehicle. A vehicle component that completely fails during an accident is similarly suspect. A seat, for example, should remain attached to the vehicle floor pan and should not break off of the floor during an accident.
A vehicle that rolls over on smooth, dry road. Safe vehicles should not roll over on smooth, dry road but should, rather, simply slide out. An on-road rollover should always be investigated as a potential products case.
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© Gilbert, Frank, Ollanik and
Komyatte, P.C., 2000, reprinted with permission.
For more information about Gilbert, Frank, Ollanik and
Komyatte, see their website at http://www.auto-law.com.
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