There are millions of traffic accidents each year and to be truthful it’s hard enough to drive among other drivers if you have a vehicle that is in perfect working order. We also all have a tendency to trust a new car or a well known auto maker to sell us a car that will work as it’s supposed to without any major problems. In some cases, this just doesn’t happen. As the media has shown in the case of Ford Motor Co. and the Ford Explorer SUV rollover rates, sometime car manufacturer create vehicles with major design flaws. Likewise, Firestone created tires that were susceptible to tread separation and failure far earlier then they should have been. Just one of these problems could cause a major car accident – when they were combined, people died.
In some cases, the issues actually come from components of a vehicle and some of these mechanisms are even designed for consumer safety. Air bags for instance are being linked to an increasing number of injury and deaths – specifically in women and children – for whom airbags were not designed. Additionally, air bags have been known to create severe eye injuries in many people, even in minor accidents, because of the force with which it deploys. Although in some instances the airbags only bruised the eye socket, in others it created eye bleeding which ultimately led to glaucoma and in one case it led to a ruptured eyeball which led to partial blindness.
Another component from Ford is also prompting recalls from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) – their cruise control switch. The switch has been tied to numerous spontaneous fires in several makes and models of Ford vehicles. The switch has been installed in over 16 million vehicles and over 1 million vehicles have been recalled and repaired. The fires can occur when the cars are running and can even occur when the ignition of the car is off and the key has been taken out of the car. The danger arises when a crack develops between the brake fluid and the electrical circuit of the cruise control switch and it ultimately ignites a fire.
It is possible that with the advent of new car black box technology, problems with technology in vehicles will be easier to diagnose and the causes of accidents caused by mechanical failure in vehicles will be more evident. Using information like rate of speed, brake position and seat belt status will help accident reconstructionists and hopefully this new technology will also be able identify major product malfunctions more quickly than is happening now.
If you have been injured by a car crash or a defective product within a vehicle, you should contact a reliable personal injury attorney or product liability attorney. Injuries caused by airbags and by Ford Cruise Control switches are dangerous and these companies are culpable for the damage they have caused. They will be able to advise you about your individual circumstances and help you identify how best to proceed.