Crashworthiness Lawyers
Vehicle crashworthiness is a car, truck or SUV's ability to protect occupants from injury in an accident. By demanding a high level of crashworthiness, lawyers, auto makers and vehicle owners ensure the safety of drivers and passengers of an automobile in case of an accident. If the structure of the vehicle is not up to today's safety standards, the driver and passengers can be seriously injured or killed if involved in a collision. Annually, hundreds of people are hurt in automobile accidents where the auto manufacturer has failed to produce a crashworthy vehicle by selling cars with defective or failure-prone components.
Auto manufacturers use computer models and experiments to predict crash failures but, often, crashworthiness is determined retrospectively by analyzing crash outcomes. In the event of an accident, the crashworthiness lawyers at Davis, Bethune and Jones assess post-collision evidence such as deformation patterns in the vehicle structure, injury predicted by human body models, recent auto recalls and defect notices to determine the liability and compensation deserved in the case.
Often, the ability of an automobile to withstand a crash is reduced to an analysis of items that may have failed during the accident. Common culprits of car & truck accident injury and death include:
Headrests & Neck Injury new - neck injuries are one of the leading source of claims in auto accidents. Recently, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety released head/neck restraint ratings for the first time, with surprising results...
Defective Air Bags - when a vehicle's air bags either fail to deploy or deploy with such force that they injure the occupants, defective air bag litigation may be necessary
SUV Rollovers - rollover accidents occur in large numbers and are responsible for a large portion of fatalities. Rollovers are more common for sport utility vehicles (SUVs) than automobiles because they have a high center of gravity and narrow wheel base.
Seat Belt Failure - we depend on seat belts to keep us safe in a crash. Sometimes, those seat belts fail or actually injure the driver or passengers.
Tire Failure - due to the age of tires or defects in the tread or design, there has been a rash of tire failure accident lawsuits in the recent past. Learn more...
Fuel Tank Failure - one of the worst accident scenarios involves fuel-fed fires caused by a failed gas tank or fuel system.
Door Latch Failure - door and rear hatch latches can sometimes spring open upon impact.
Broken Seat Back - the forces involved in some accidents is enough that certain car's seat backs have been known to fail and cause injury.
Roof Caving - also called roof crush accidents, this involves the roof of a car, truck or SUV collapsing when in a rollover
Side Impact Accidents - the door beams within most car doors are little protection in a collision. Some side impact accident injuries could be prevented.
Underride Accidents - often associated with tractor trailers and large SUVs, "underride" is when one vehicle's rear bumper forces another to plunge below in an accident.
Victims of Car & Truck Defects, Get Help
If you or a loved one was injured in a car or truck accident, the vehicle's crashworthiness could have played a part in the accident's severity and the resulting injuries. Car & truck defect litigation in this area requires experienced legal representation and, often, accident reconstruction specialists. Get a free legal consultation with Davis, Bethune & Jones, LLC by calling our firm at 1-800-875-5972 or by filling out the form at the right.
