Colorado Defective Automobile Design Lawyers

While many auto accidents occur because of human error, severe injuries sustained by drivers and passengers often can be caused or worsened by defective products or inadequate safety mechanisms. Automotive design problems include rollovers, roof crush, air bag malfunctions, and injuries due to defective seat belt systems.

We have provided detailed information about faulty auto design types of cases for your information below.

Defective Tires

Over the last several years, there have been five major tire recalls due to defects, including the Bridgestone/Firestone tire recall, Cooper tire recall, Goodyear tire recall, Uniroyal tire recall, and Dunlop tire recall. These recalls have been issued to replace specific models of tires with a tendency to crack and split, causing separation of the tire belts from the casing. This is known as tread separation.

In June 2007, Foreign Tire Sales, Inc., an importer of Chinese tires, estimated that almost 450,000 steel-belted radial tires were defective because they lacked a key safety feature, known as a "gum strip," which gives the tires added durability. The Chinese tires were sold in America as replacement tires for SUVs, pickups and vans under the brand names Westlake, Telluride, Compass and YKS.

There have been alerts and recalls for tires, and we list information about new recalls on our Colorado Law Blog to help get information to the public about these defective tires and to prevent injuries and deaths.

Rollovers

Rollover accidents are responsible for an estimated 24,000 injuries and 10,000 deaths annually in the United States. A number of the vehicles have also been found to have roofs that cannot withstand rollover accidents, with drivers and passengers injured and killed.

Roof Crush

Many of the fatalities in rollover cases involve roof crush, in which the roof-strength of a vehicle cannot withstand the force of the crash. SUVs are more prone to roof crushes. An SUV roof is more likely to crush because the vehicles are higher and the roofs often impact the ground with more force than passenger cars.

While only a small number of all accidents involve rollovers - a mere 3 percent - rollovers account for fully one-third of all deaths involving passenger vehicles. Many of the fatalities involve roof crush, rollovers in which the roof-strength of a vehicle cannot withstand the force of the crash.

SUVs are more prone to roof crushes, which occur in many rollovers. An SUV roof is more likely to crush because the vehicles are higher and the roofs often impact the ground with more force than passenger cars.

Airbags

Airbags can cause severe injuries in auto accidents. Even though airbags have been credited with saving lives, these devices have problems, including the following:

• Airbags that deploy when they should not.
• Airbags that deploy with too much force.
• Airbags that deploy too slowly.
• Airbags that deploy in low-speed accidents.
• Airbags that fail to deploy.

Victims are often children or smaller passengers.

A number of vehicles have been recalled because of air bag problems and some victims have successfully sued auto manufacturers for their injuries.

Seat Belt Injuries

Lap belts, many of them found in older vehicles and in the rear, center seats of many newer models, also have been found to cause severe injuries, mainly among children. Upon impact, these seat belts can cause trauma to a child's mid-section, in turn causing permanent disability such as paralysis.

If you or a loved one has been injured due to the defective design of an automobile, our team is ready to investigate and evaluate your case. We will give you a free detailed evaluation. Beth Klein specializes in defective auto design for Denver residents.

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