If you don’t think about your car seat when you hear the term “auto defect,” you’re not alone. Most people take the safety of their car seats for granted, causing them to overlook the signs of potential auto seat defects.
If a car seat breaks or fails to perform up to safety standards – especially during an accident – passengers can sustain serious and even fatal injuries.
INJURIES & SIDE-EFFECTS OF DEFECTIVE AUTO SEATS
Defective auto seats can injure passengers in a variety of ways. They can also change passenger behavior during accidents. A broken car seat can…
- Cause a driver to lose control due to seat tracks or backs breaking;
- Reduce the effectiveness of other safety measures, such as airbags or seatbelts;
- Cause passengers to slide out of restraint systems, ejecting them from the vehicle;
- Injure passengers in the backseat
- Make it more difficult to escape from vehicle wreckage
- Common injuries associated with defective auto seats include
- Traumatic brain, head, or spine injuries
- Cracked sternum
- Vertebrae fractures
- Burst appendix
- Ruptured spleen
- Bowel injuries
- Intestinal injuries
- Soft-tissue damage
- Aneurysms
- Scarring and disfigurement
- Contusions
- Concussions
CAN I SUE OVER A DEFECTIVE CAR SEAT?
Yes. Defective seat cases are classified as product liability disputes. They frequently coincide with personal injury cases, since defective or broken car seats are often discovered as the result of an accident.
If you believe your auto seat is or was defective, you can file a lawsuit against a number of parties depending on who was responsible for the defect. Parties that can be held liable include:
WHAT COMPENSATION CAN I GET FOR A DEFECTIVE CAR SEAT?
You can recover the following types of compensation from a defective seat lawsuit:
- Economic damages, to cover past, present, and future monetary losses caused by the defect, including medical bills, lost wages, and other expenses;
- Noneconomic damages to cover pain, suffering, and emotional trauma;
- Punitive damages to punish the party responsible for the defective product.
Due to the complexity of car seats and crashes, having evidence to support claims of a defective seat or seat component is crucial. That’s why at Wilshire Law Firm, we work with experts to conduct our own accident investigations, enabling us to uncover evidence that helps our clients receive the compensation they deserve.
