When automotive giants design and manufacture cars, they are subject to the same liability as any company if they produce a defective product. Similarly, when mass transit accidents occur, like airplane accidents or train accidents, the party that is found culpable is responsible for replacing any losses that have occurred as a result of their misconduct or defective product. Millions of Americans own cars and use public transportation every day. For the U.S. to function, they depend on the automotive industry which is why the quality of their products and the assumption of safety are so incredible important.
The Ford Motor Company seems to be under constant siege whether because of the design flaw in the Ford Explorer that caused it to rollover too easily and it battle with Bridgestone-Firestone tires. Ford even took major losses by recalling someone else's product – a number of Firestone tires they blamed for hundred of accidents related to the Ford Explorer. More recently the faulty Ford cruise control switch that has been blamed on over 500 spontaneous car fires in several makes and models of their cars is offering new headaches because although they are installed in over 16 million of their cars only just over 1 million have been recalled and now the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is investigating further. They have been found culpable in many product liability lawsuits and personal injury lawsuits filed against them and the lawsuits are ongoing.
Equally embattled Amtrak is struggling to compete with the airline and automotive industries and although heavily subsidized by the federal government is plagued with safety issues. In sum total, in a bit over five years, Amtrak train collisions and Amtrak train derailments have killed 9 people and left over 800 injured. From issues like racial discrimination to passengers, to improperly working signals and engineer error to the technical issues that have plagued their high speed trains, they can’t seem to catch a break.
As new technology like the automobile data recorder are installed in more vehicles, it may soothe the public and make things like accident resolution and reconstruction simpler or it may rather lead into a legal morass requiring more and more litigation to determine when, how and why people can access automobile data relating to an accident or illegal use of a vehicle. Still, as the automotive industry grows and the competition continues to become more intense, data that could resolve and prevent issues like the Hummer H2 tire separation or preventable airbag injuries would be important steps forward.
If you or someone you care about has legal concerns about vehicle liability or an auto accident that appears to have been caused by vehicle malfunction then you should call an attorney. A qualified product liability attorney, specializing in automotive malfunction or a qualified personal injury lawyer will be able to help you assess your claim and make the decision about moving forward and into litigation. The automotive and mass transit industries must answer for liability in accidents caused by product malfunction, pilot and engineer error and soon, we may have the data to support these claims at our fingertips.