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Car accidents are unfortunately common, and seat belts have been proven time and again to save lives. However, some people are injured because of their seat belts. If a seat belt is defective and does not function as intended during an accident, you might have a claim against the manufacturer.
Seat belts can sometimes cause injuries simply because of how they work. They should restrain you and keep you in place during an accident, and some drivers experience pain and bruising from the belt across their chest and waist. However, when the seat belt fails to function, your injuries may be much worse than they would have been if the seat belt worked properly. In that case, you can sue the manufacturer for your enhanced injuries.
Ask our Indiana car accident lawyers for a free, private legal assessment by calling Wruck Paupore at (219) 322-1166
Even when seat belts work properly and drivers or passengers use them correctly, they can still result in injuries. Many accident survivors experience significant bruising from their seat belts. This is somewhat common, especially in accidents involving high rates of speed. However, this does not prove that the seat belt was somehow defective. Such bruising is to be expected when a seat belt functions as intended.
However, when the seat belt worsens your injuries, something is clearly wrong, and the manufacturer may be held liable. Generally, a manufacturer may be held liable for how an injury was exacerbated, not necessarily for the entire injury.
You can sue for a seat belt injury if the injury occurred because the seat belt failed to function properly, and your injuries were made worse because of it.
Your injuries may stem from a defective seat belt. Perhaps you had a false latching incident where the seat belt came unlatched before or during an accident. Retraction failures happen when the seat belt cannot be tightened or adjusted, making it unsafe. Still, a tension detector failure may occur when the seat belt will not lock during an accident, and the driver or passenger may go flying.
Even if you wear a defective seat belt, it may fail to protect you or even make the injuries you sustain worse.
Seat belts should be comfortable and, when working properly, reduce injuries from a crash. When seat belts are poorly designed, they may be uncomfortable, may not fit properly around the wearer, or may fail to reduce injuries.
Poor design is not the same as a defect. A defect involves some part of the seat belt failing due to a production error or damage. When a seat belt is poorly designed, it cannot function safely even when all parts are manufactured and assembled according to the design.
Do you believe the seat belt somehow worsened injuries from an accident? A poorly designed seat belt might have slipped up around your neck and caused neck injuries that should not have occurred. If the belt was too big or too small for you, it might have led to enhanced injuries. Seat belts should be designed to fit nearly all body types comfortably.
The seat belt manufacturer may be held responsible for how your injuries were worsened directly by the seat belt malfunction.
When suing for personal injuries caused by a defective seat belt in a car accident, you must file the case in court no later than 2 years after the accident. If you cannot file the case within this time, you may be prohibited from bringing the cause of action at all.
We may know that the seat belt you were wearing was defective, but we must also have evidence that it was the direct cause of your enhanced injuries.
What are official safety standards for seat belts? The automotive industry is heavily regulated, and manufacturers must follow hundreds of rules when producing car parts, including seat belts. Our Evansville, IN car accident lawyers can review these rules and even present them as evidence of how the seat belt should have been designed and manufactured.
The seat belt may be removed from the car and disassembled. In some cases, crucial parts of the seat belt are missing or damaged, making it dangerous. A thorough inspection of the seat belt itself may quickly reveal any defects or design flaws.
We should have an automotive expert inspect the car, specifically the seat belt. If anything is wrong with the seat belt, the expert will know.
We may also have accident reconstruction experts scientifically recreate how the accident happened. Their findings may shed light on the role the seat belt played in your injuries.
We must prove that the defect or design flaw happened during the manufacturing process. If a seat belt became defective or damaged only after it reached the consumer, the manufacturer may argue that the consumer did something to damage the seat belt or failed to replace a worn-out seat belt.
Damages in accidents involving defective seat belts can be complicated, and the damages from the seat belt must be separate from other damages.
The seat belt manufacturer is responsible for injuries caused by the defective seat belt, not necessarily all damages from the accident. Remember, the manufacturer is usually a third-party defendant in a car accident lawsuit. The manufacturer likely did not directly cause the accident.
Damages completely unrelated to the seat belt would likely not be paid by the seat belt manufacturer.
The negligent driver who caused the crash should be held responsible for the damages they caused. This may include various physical injuries and damage to your property. However, the at-fault driver is not responsible for a defective seat belt.
As such, we must carefully separate the damages inflicted by each defendant.
If you removed your seat belt before the accident or never put it on, you likely cannot sue the seat belt manufacturer even if the seat belt was defective. To have a valid product liability claim, you must have been using the defective product for its intended purpose. If you were not wearing the seat belt, you likely have no legal claim against the manufacturer.
Ask our Indianapolis, IN car accident lawyers for a free, private legal assessment by calling Wruck Paupore at (219) 322-1166.
Don is a founding partner and one of the nation’s top-ranked personal injury litigators. He is a member of the Multi-million Dollar Advocates Forum, which includes less than 1% of the nation’s trial lawyers, and awarded the highest ranking given by Martindale Hubbel and AVVO.
More importantly, Don understands representing personal injury victims is about more than recovering the best settlement: it’s about helping clients get back on their feet and supporting them in every aspect of their recovery.
In nearly all cases, our clients seek compensation from the wrongdoer’s insurance company. Before forming Wruck Paupore, Jason worked for a prominent law firm representing some of the world’s largest insurers. This experience gives Jason a deep understanding of the insurance industry and the strategies it uses to pay injury victims as little as possible.
Jason -- and our entire team -- put this inside knowledge to work to force insurance companies to pay what is actually owed. Often, we use the insurance company’s own tactics against them as we fight for the full compensation our client deserves.
For more than four decades, Keith has been fighting for injury victims. During that time, he’s watched the insurance industry change, with insurers now more interested in protecting their stock price than treating injury victims fairly.
Since the beginning, Keith has put people first. From his childhood in Gary, Indiana during the 1960’s and working his way through law school, Keith has risen to become one of the Midwest’s most respected trial lawyers. He has never forgotten that being a lawyer is about helping people -- and seeing injury victims through struggles in a way that could change their lives forever.
Over the decades, Keith, Don and Jason have fought relentlessly for clients, even when other lawyers have said the case was impossible to win.
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Wruck Paupore P.C.
Injury Lawyers
275 Joliet St. Suite #250
Dyer, IN 46311
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