Defective Seat Belt
Lawsuits, Defective Safety Belt and Shoulder Strap Lawsuits,
Deadly Vehicle Accident Lawsuits, Texas Deadly Defective
Seatbelt Lawsuits, Defective Safety Restraint Design Lawsuits,
and Fatal One Automobile Crash Lawsuits
by Texas One Car Accident Defective Seatbelt
Crashworthiness Lawyer Jason S. Coomer
Defective
seatbelts and/or
defective airbags in automobiles can turn a simple
automobile accident into a fatal automobile collision, deadly
car wreck, or catastrophic injury crash. In designing
automobiles, manufacturers know that it is important to design
vehicles with safety features that protect occupants. Failure
to design safe vehicles that are crashworthy, can result in a
vehicle collision that injures or kills drivers and passengers
as well as a
crashworthiness product liability lawsuit.
If you have lost
a loved one in a fatal defective seatbelt automobile crash,
failed seatbelt restraint collision, or other serious vehicle
accident , feel free to
submit
an inquiry or
send an e-mail to Texas Defective Seatbelt Accident lawyer Jason
Coomer.
Automobile Accident Defective Safety
Belt Lawsuits, Automobile Seatbelt Failure Crash Lawsuits,
Automobile Wreck Defective Shoulder Belt Lawsuits and Fatal
Automobile Collision Defective Safety Restraint Device Lawsuits
(Texas Defective Seatbelt and Safety Restraint Device Lawyer)
Defective Safety Belts, Shoulder Belts, and
other restraining safety devices in an automobile can cause
catastrophic injuries or even death to a driver or passengers
during an automobile crash.
Because seatbelts have a variety of moving
parts, it is important to understand how the moving parts work
and if each of the parts are working correctly when
investigating a defective seat belt fatal accident or defective
seatbelt catastrophic injury car crash. This investigation
should look at the overall design of the restraint devices in
the vehicle and compare it to the injuries sustained by the
driver and passengers as well as determine if any individual
part of each safety belt, should belt, child safety seat,
airbag, and other safety devices were working properly.
Typically, defective seatbelt lawsuits and
defective safety restraint device lawsuits can be broken down
into many categories of defects.
Automobile Accident Defective Safety
Belt Latch Lawsuits, Automobile Seatbelt Latch Failure Crash
Lawsuits, Automobile Wreck Defective Shoulder Belt Latch
Lawsuits and Fatal Automobile Collision Defective Safety
Restraint Latch Device Lawsuits (Texas Defective Seatbelt
Latch and Safety Restraint Latch Device Lawyer)
One such category of defective safety belt
and defective seatbelt lawsuits are defective seat belt latch
lawsuits, defective shoulder strap latch lawsuits, and defective
safety restraint latch lawsuits. In investigating a defective
seatbelt latch lawsuit, the defective seatbelt latch lawyer
should remember that a seatbelt latch should never unlatch
inadvertently. The only time it should unlatch is when the user
chooses to unlatch it by pushing whatever apparatus is required
to disengage the latch.
Sometimes a buckle will disengage on its own.
Sometimes a latch plate will never securely lock into the buckle
and will pull out with little or no effort. These are just two
examples of some of the more common latch defects. Inertial
unlatching, inadvertent unlatching and false latching are the
most commonly encountered latch defects. Inertial unlatching is
a situation in which a latch plate will release out of the
buckle during a collision. This is commonly a result of an
external force applied to certain components of the seatbelt.
Allegations of inertial unlatching have been around since the
1970s and were dismissed by car manufacturers. Subsequently,
evidence of inertial unlatching has made it a real issue and a
viable defect claim. This defect has been identified in seatbelt
systems in which the buckle is housed in a rigid stock secured
to the vehicle’s frame. With force to the bottom of the stock,
the latchplate can be released from the buckle. That is not the
only way inertial unlatching can occur. Investigate the
possibility of inertial unlatching when considering a failed
seatbelt case.
Inadvertent unlatching can be caused by
flying debris or flailing limbs contacting the buckle release
button during a rollover or other collision. When a foreseeable
accident occurs, there is often flying debris throughout the
vehicle, and occupants’ limbs are prone to flailing. These
scenarios are foreseeable in a collision and seatbelt buckles
are intended to stay latched even in the presence of flying
debris contacting the buckle release button. Some buckles are
better than others at withstanding contact from flying debris.
Chrysler’s Generation 3 seatbelt buckles that were installed in
many Chrysler products from 1993-2003 were especially
susceptible to inadvertent unlatching. If there is a basis for
believing that your occupant was belted before the accident but
during the accident scenario became unbuckled, investigate the
possibility of inadvertent unlatching. False-latching occurs
when the latch plate looks, feels and sounds like it is secured
in the buckle but is not securely locked in place. Chrysler’s
Generation 3 seatbelt buckles that were installed in many
Chrysler products from 1993-2003 were especially susceptible to
false-latching due to the spacing and structure of their
buckles. These buckles were laid out in a way that a user could
fully insert the latch plate into the buckle but miss the entire
locking mechanism and therefore, never secure the buckle.
A post collision analysis of the buckle can
often indicate if false-latching is a concern. When a seatbelt
latch fails it is possible the police report will state, and may
be corroborated by first responders and witnesses, that the
occupant was not wearing a seatbelt. As discussed above, latches
can fail and occupants can appear no longer belted after an
accident. Thoroughly analyze the seatbelts and interview all
witnesses to see if there is any evidence of usage and/or the
possibility of the seatbelt failing. Do not dismiss a case for
lack of seatbelt use without investigating the seatbelt issues
discussed above.
Automobile Accident Defective Safety
Belt Spooling Lawsuits, Automobile Seatbelt Spooling Failure
Crash Lawsuits, Automobile Wreck Defective Shoulder Belt
Spooling Lawsuits and Fatal Automobile Collision Defective
Safety Restraint Spooling Device Lawsuits (Texas Defective
Spooling Seatbelt and Safety Restraint Device Lawyer)
Another category of defective safety belt and
defective seatbelt lawsuits are defective seatbelt spooling
lawsuits, defective shoulder strap spooling lawsuits, and
defective safety restraint spooling lawsuits. In investigating
a defective seatbelt spooling lawsuit, the defective seatbelt
spooling lawyer should remember that a seatbelt retractor device
should keep the driver and passengers in a vehicle properly
restrained during a collision. The seatbelt retractor should
lock the seatbelt and hold the driver and passengers in place
preventing them from hitting the windshield or other parts of
the inside of the vehicle that could cause serious injury or
death. In order words a proper functioning retractor should not
release excess slack during a collision allowing the occupants
to move and potentially suffer serious or fatal injuries.
Seatbelt and safety belt spooling occurs when
an excess amount of webbing is introduced into a seatbelt during
a collision or rollover event because of a defect in the
retractor device. When a defective retractor fails to properly
lock, excessive seatbelt webbing can be released out of the
defective retractor and results in excess seatbelt webbing or
slack in the seatbelt that can prevent the driver or passengers
from being safely held in place causing a catastrophic or fatal
injury in what should have been an injury free collision.
Seatbelt spooling can happen for many
reasons. Regardless of the reason, the seatbelt should not
spool-out and fail to keep a driver or passenger properly
restrained during a collision or rollover event. If in
post-collision the post accident investigation, the seatbelt is
found with excess slack in the belt, it is important to
carefully consider and analyze the possibility of a spooling
defect. Also, if a driver or passenger hit the windshield or
appears to have moved a lot when they should have been properly
restrained, it is important to consider the possibility of
spooling and a defective seatbelt retractor device.
Through pictures or post-collision vehicle
inspections, the presence of too much webbing in the belt can
often be identified. The defective retractor device often cannot
be identified by a cursory examination of the vehicle wreckage,
but typically is only identified by experienced defective
seatbelt spooling lawyers and the use of defective seatbelt
spooling experts. Even if it can be determined that spooling
happened, it often takes an experienced defective seatbelt
lawyer or expert to determine the cause of the defective
seatbelt retractor. Sometimes a seatbelt will spool-out simply
as a result of the retractor failing to lock up during a
collision. Please keep in mind that retractors are designed to
be triggered by certain events. They are created to lock up when
there is force applied in one direction or another. For example,
a retractor obviously should lock with the force of a high-speed
front-end collision. In the front-end collision, a secure
shoulder belt should restrain the driver and passengers in the
seats and prevent injurious contacts with the steering wheel and
windshield. In front-end collision cases, defective spooling
causing a slack or loosely fitting shoulder belt could fail to
hold a driver or passenger in their seat and allow them to be
thrown into the steering wheel, windshield, or other parts of
the interior of a vehicle.
A defective retractor can also fail to lock
during a rollover collision, allowing to excess webbing to be
introduced into the seatbelts and allowing drivers and
passengers to be thrown free during the rollover. Traditional
seatbelt systems have been typically ill-equipped to account for
the vehicle dynamics of a rollover. In a rollover, however,
seatbelts are critical in limiting occupant excursion. Occupant
excursion is the extent to which the driver's and passenger's
bodies move out of their original seating position during a
collision event. Typically, the greater the excursion, the
greater the chance of injury. Many retractors, by design, let
out excess slack during a rollover because the mechanism for
locking the retractor is ineffective while the vehicle is
rolling. Instead of staying locked through the entirety of a
rollover event, some seatbelt retractors will lock and unlock as
the vertical and horizontal forces on the vehicle change.
Retractors should stay locked during the entirety of a
collision.
A retractor staying locked throughout a
rollover is essential to limiting occupant excursion. When
investigating and pleading a design defect seatbelt case, always
be current on what safer alternative designs were available when
the vehicle was manufactured. There are multiple safer
alternative designs on the market that can alleviate spooling.
Some automobile manufacturers incorporate more than one
retractor into their seatbelt systems in case one fails.
Rollover fired seatbelt pretensioners were developed in the past
ten years to address many of the retractor issues related to
rollovers. They are activated when a rollover is sensed and
automatically pull in and lock the seatbelt. Seat integrated, or
All-Belts to Seats, systems are systems where the seatbelt
housing is located in the seat and not the B-Pillar. Also,
Web-Grabbers help alleviate the chances of spooling. All of
these are safer alternative designs that help to significantly
reduce occupant excursion in a collision event. When
investigating a design defect seatbelt case, determine what
safer alternative designs were economically and technologically
feasible at the time the vehicle was manufactured.
Retractors can fail to lock because of a
variety of defects including design defects and manufacturing
defects.
Automobile Accident Defective Safety
Belt Webbing Lawsuits, Automobile Seatbelt Webbing Failure Crash
Lawsuits, Automobile Wreck Defective Shoulder Belt Webbing
Lawsuits and Fatal Automobile Collision Defective Safety
Restraint Webbing Device Lawsuits (Texas Defective Webbing
Seatbelt and Safety Restraint Device Lawyer)
Another category of defective safety belt and
defective seatbelt lawsuits are defective seatbelt webbing
lawsuits, defective shoulder strap webbing lawsuits, and
defective webbing manufacturing lawsuits. In investigating a
defective seatbelt webbing lawsuit, the defective seatbelt
webbing lawyer should remember that seatbelt webbing should not
break or come apart in most vehicle collisions. Seatbelt
webbing that has broken has probably been cut or was the result
of a seatbelt manufacturing defect. In order words seatbelt
webbing should not rip or tear apart during a collision allowing
the occupants to move and potentially suffer serious or fatal
injuries.
The presence of ripped or torn safety belt
webbing should raise a red flag that there may be a defect or
manufacturing flaw in the safety belt webbing. When the
seatbelt tears or is ripped in half during an accident,
something has probably gone terribly wrong. Seat belt webbing is
designed to withstand the forces of most survivable collisions
without ripping or tearing. Torn or ripped seatbelt webbing
might occur because of a defect or manufacturing flaw in the
webbing itself, such as material or weaving deficiencies.
Ripped or torn webbing might also be the
consequence of some other type of automobile defect including
defective spooling, defective detractor, or defective safety
design.
Automobile Accident Defective Safety
Restraint Design Lawsuits, Automobile Seatbelt Design Crash
Lawsuits, Automobile Wreck Defective Shoulder Belt Design
Lawsuits and Fatal Automobile Collision Defective Safety
Restraint Design Lawsuits (Texas Defective Seatbelt and
Safety Restraint Device Design Lawyer)
Another category of defective safety belt and
defective seatbelt lawsuits are defective seatbelt design
lawsuits, defective shoulder strap design lawsuits, and
defective safety restraint design lawsuits. In investigating a
defective seatbelt design lawsuit, the defective safety design
lawyer should remember that a seatbelt retractor device should
keep the driver and passengers in a vehicle properly restrained
during a collision. The seatbelt retractor should lock the
seatbelt and hold the driver and passengers in place preventing
them from hitting the windshield or other parts of the inside of
the vehicle that could cause serious injury or death. In order
words a proper functioning retractor should not release excess
slack during a collision allowing the occupants to move and
potentially suffer serious or fatal injuries.
Also, sometimes simply the geometry, or
layout, of the seatbelt system is such that it will necessarily
allow occupant excursion during a crash and render the restraint
system ineffective. For a seatbelt system to be effective, it
is important that the seatbelts work in conjunction with the
vehicle's seats and surrounding structure. If the seatbelt
safety restrain system is not compatible with the interior of
the vehicle or there are other defects in the vehicle including
defective airbags, defective seats, or a defective roof, the
crashworthiness of the vehicle may be defective and cause
drivers or passengers to be injured or killed due to a
combination of vehicle failures.
Additionally, defective automatic seatbelt
design systems and defective automatic door lock systems can
cause dangers if they release during a collision. For example
an automatic seatbelt and door lock system can cause restraints
to be released and doors to be opened during a rollover
accident. This could cause the driver and passengers to be
thrown around inside the vehicle or even out of the vehicle.
Automobile Accident Defective
Crashworthiness Product Liability Lawsuits and The
Crashworthiness Doctrine under Texas Law and Federal Law
Defective Automobile Accident Lawsuit
Crashworthiness cases involve claims that a design defect caused
or enhanced the injuries of a vehicle’s occupants during an
automobile crash. To identify a crashworthiness claim, one must
examine the interplay among the circumstances of the accident,
the performance of the vehicle during the accident, and the
injuries suffered. Such defects may cause a minor injury
automobile collision to become a fatal automobile collision or
cause enhanced injuries by failing to provide suitable
protection from injury or death in foreseeable automobile
accidents. Crashworthiness lawsuits have taken many forms, both
in Texas litigation and throughout state and federal courts.
Under United States Federal the
Crashworthiness Doctrine was developed in the Eighth Circuit’s
opinion in Larsen v. General Motors Corp. that
later helped establish that a manufacturer should be held liable
for failure to provide protection to vehicle occupants in the
event of an automobile collision. The decision of the United
States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in Larsen v.
General Motors Corporation, 391 F.2d 495 (8th Cir. 1968), is
credited with saving many lives and enunciating the legal
doctrine that "[w]hile automobiles are not made for the purpose
of colliding with each other, a frequent and inevitable
contingency of normal automobile use will result in collisions
and injury-producing impacts. No rational basis exists for
limiting recovery to situations where the defect in design or
manufacture was the causative factor of the accident, as the
accident and the resulting injury, usually caused by the
so-called “second collision” of the passenger with the interior
part of the automobile, all are foreseeable. Where the injuries
or enhanced injuries are due to the manufacturer’s failure to
use reasonable care to avoid subjecting the user of its products
to an unreasonable risk of injury, general negligence principles
should be applicable. The sole function of an automobile is not
just to provide a means of transportation, it is to provide a
means of safe transportation or as safe as is reasonably
possible under the present state of the art. Id. at 502".
For more information on the Crashworthiness
Doctrine, feel free to go to the following webpage on the
Texas Defective Crashworthiness Lawsuits.
Automobile Accident
Crashworthiness Defective Air Bag Lawsuits and Fatal Automobile
Collision Crashworthiness Defective Air Bag Lawsuits (Automobile
Defective Airbag Product Liability Lawsuits)
Defective Air Bag Claims may arise out of
serious automobile accidents where a defective air bag was the
cause of death or a catastrophic injury. An air bag injury may
result when an air bag deploys at low impact or no impact. The
defective airbag will deploy at tremendous force which is
necessary to protect passengers from forward momentum of a
high-speed crash. However, if the air bag deploys At low speed,
deployment can snap the head and neck back severely, resulting
in spinal damage, brain injury and soft tissue damage. Facial
lacerations and even broken bones in the face are also common.
Sometimes air bags fail to deploy when they should, resulting in
chest, head, face and or neck injury as the body is propelled
against the dashboard, windshield or seatback. For more
information on Texas Defective Airbag Lawsuits, please go to the
following web page on
Texas Defective Airbag Lawyer.
Catastrophic Injury
Defective Seat Belt Lawyers, Single Vehicle
Accident Lawyers, Deadly Defective Seatbelt Lawyers, Defective
Restraint Design Lawyers, and Fatal One Automobile Crash
Lawyers, and Catastrophic Injury & Deadly
Defective Shoulder Strap Lawyers (United States and Texas
Defective Restrain and Safety Belt Lawsuits)
As a Texas Defective Seat
Belt Fatal Accident Lawyer, Jason Coomer, works on Texas
Defective Seatbelt Lawsuits involving serious injuries and fatal
automobile collisions all over the State of Texas and throughout
the United States. In working on Texas Fatal Seatbelt Crash Law
Suits, Jason Coomer commonly works with other Texas Fatal
Defective Seat Belt Rollover Accident Lawyers throughout Texas
and the United States including Houston Fatal Defective Safety
Belt Collision Lawyers, Dallas Fatal Defective Seat Belt
Rollover Lawyers, El Paso Defective Safety Restraint Fatal
Accident Lawyers, and San Antonio Defective Safety Belt Design
Serious Burn and Death Accident Lawyers.
In working with other
Defective Crashworthiness Automobile Accident Lawyers, he is
able to more efficiently investigate and litigate catastrophic
injury and fatal SUV crash, fatal car wreck, deadly truck
collision,
one car accident, and other deadly vehicle wreck lawsuits
that are caused by defective seatbelts or other defective
automobile designs or parts.
Texas Defective Seatbelt Automobile Lawyer,
Jason S. Coomer, helps individuals that have been seriously
injured and the families of people that have been killed as a
result of defective seat belts, defective safety belts,
defective shoulder straps, defective safety restraining systems,
defective air bags, defective rollover design, defective
roof design, defective safety restraint design, defective
steering column design, or other a defective crashworthiness
automobile design or part. If you have a question about a
defective seat belt or safety belt automobile lawsuit, feel
free to
contact Austin Texas Defective Safety Belt and Seat Belt Fatal
Accident lawyer Jason Coomer. |