Even the safest cars can become hazardous if they suffer from design and manufacturing flaws. Modern automobiles have numerous advantages over their predecessors, such as specially designed crumple zones; driver, passenger and side curtain airbags that deploy within a fraction of a second should on-board sensors detect an accident; and seat-belt restraints that maintain a consistent area of pressure throughout the body of a passenger in order to disburse the affect of a collision over wider body surface area.

These marvels of safety innovation have saved countless lives, and would undoubtedly save countless more. But what happens when the very innovations designed to save lives take them, or fail to activate at the appropriate time? Drivers take for granted these safety features, but if defective products work their way into a car design it is the innocent that sometimes pay for these mistakes with their lives.

Though no one should drive recklessly because they think that their auto safety features will save them, the sense of security they bring to the driving experience is often a factor in the purchase of a vehicle. To that end, auto manufacturers have a duty and a responsibility to not include defective devices in the design or manufacture of their cars. Read the rest of this entry »