Vehicle Defect Claims in Pennsylvania: Airbags, Seatbelts and Crashworthiness

Do not let the vehicle be scrapped

This is the single most important step and the one most commonly missed. Insurers total a vehicle and dispose of it within weeks, and once it is crushed the claim is generally gone.

Tell the insurer in writing that the vehicle must be preserved, find out where it is being stored, and act quickly. The airbag control module in particular records crash data including speed, braking and whether deployment commands were issued.

The recurring defect categories

• Airbags that failed to deploy in a deployment level crash, deployed without cause, or deployed with excessive force.
• Seatbelts that unlatched, allowed excessive spooling, or whose retractor failed.
• Roof crush in rollovers, where occupant survival space was not maintained.
• Fuel system integrity, where a post collision fire caused injuries the impact did not.
• Seat back collapse, which can injure the occupant and anyone seated behind, frequently a child.
• Tire failure from tread separation or age related degradation.
• Electronic systems, including unintended acceleration and braking failures.

Crashworthiness is a distinct theory

It does not claim the defect caused the crash. It claims the crash was survivable, or would have produced far lesser injuries, and the vehicle’s design made the outcome worse. That means a claim can exist even where the collision itself was somebody else’s fault or your own.

It is worth stating plainly, because people who believe they caused the crash frequently do not think to ask whether the car performed as it should have.

Recalls

Check for open recalls and technical service bulletins for the vehicle. A recall is useful evidence and its absence is not an answer, since many defects are litigated before any recall issues and some never produce one.

The data

Most modern vehicles record crash data. Downloading it requires the right equipment and should be done properly, with the vehicle preserved and the download witnessed, because it becomes central evidence and its handling will be scrutinised.