Back to Defective Products FAQs

When residents of Pennsylvania purchase a new car or truck, they assume the manufacturer has adhered to minimum federal crash standards. While most of these requirements are typically followed, defective automobiles and automobile parts that do not even meet the minimum safety standards slip through the cracks from time to time. Although manufacturing mistakes are generally unintentional, an alarming reality is that recalls often cost more money than a car company is willing to spend.

The infamous case of the Ford Pintos in the 1970s gives us a horrifying glimpse of the automobile industry's willingness to put profits ahead of human lives. But even though many of us regard the Pinto travesty as a tragic lesson learned, auto companies still strive to minimize their losses when recalls are necessary. By allowing defective parts to be used in vehicles, these manufacturers cause many serious injuries and deaths each year.

What is vehicle defect?

There are actually three main types of vehicle defects including, but not limited to:

• A manufacturing defect generally indicates the failure to include a required safety mechanism in a vehicle.
• A design defect causes injury or death due to a poor design decision, such as placing a fuel tank too close to a position of common impact.
• Failure to warn occurs when the manufacturer of a vehicle containing an unsafe feature fails to warn consumers of this issue.

If you or a loved one has suffered a serious injury as the result of a defective product, you should seek legal representation immediately. For a free case review by an experience Pennsylvania product liability attorney please fill out the form on the left.