Automotive Defects

When automakers, tire companies and parts suppliers place the corporate bottom line before safety, they must be held accountable for injuries and damages caused by their defective and dangerous products. Automakers and manufacturers all along the supply and distribution chain have a responsibility to ensure that the components that go into making a car or truck – and its overall design and functionality – are free of dangerous automotive defects. When an automotive product is improperly designed or defective, those responsible have a duty to do everything possible to identify the problem, alert the public, and make sure that the defective vehicle products are promptly replaced or repaired.

Too often, automakers place profit over safety, resulting in unnecessary hazards on our roads and highways and preventable injuries and deaths. Defective automotive products including defective gas tanks and fuel systems, faulty airbags and supplemental restraint systems (SRS), and poorly engineered safety and structural components, play a role in many of the more than 30,000 traffic deaths and more than 2 million injuries that occur on U.S. roadways every year, unnecessarily inflicting pain and suffering on individuals and their loved ones. Ensuring that automotive products are free from dangerous defects is more important than ever because modern automotive products have become so technologically complex, while our roads have become increasingly congested.

Federal transportation regulations are designed to provide much-needed oversight of this industry, but it’s too easy for profit-driven corporations to employ delay tactics and perform the bare minimum to address known safety problems. Recent headline-grabbing cases include well-documented injuries and deaths related to faulty fuel tanks, defective ignition switches and dangerous airbags.

When government oversight can’t spur manufacturers to correct automobile defects, our civil justice system is designed to hold corporations accountable for the hazards they’ve created. The trial team at Farrar & Ball has successfully sued some of largest automotive companies in the world on behalf of injured clients. Our trial team uses nationally recognized experts to investigate and determine exactly why an automotive component failed and determine who is responsible, from the automotive dealership to the manufacturer or distributor of the defective parts. We follow the trail of evidence around the world, if necessary. Our adversaries quickly realize that we won’t stop until every responsible party is identified and every incriminating document is uncovered.

Contact Farrar & Ball to learn more about our approach to automotive defect litigation.