The federal law requires all car companies and equipment manufacturers to ensure the safety of consumers. And according to law, failure to meet the safety requirements will make these companies liable for any equipment and car defects.

Usually, companies which provide defective products are required to pay civil penalties which may amount to millions of dollars.

Who may be liable for car defects?

Auto companies

Manufacturers of car accessories and parts

Car dealers

Used car dealers

Shipper or middlemen

Because car defects may cause fatal injuries to people, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and its subsidiary Office of Defects Investigation (ODI) provide a list of recalls in tires, childs safety seats and latches, seatbelts, air bags, and cars prone to rollover crash.

Defective tires

According to police reports, there were several cases of car accidents which involved defective tires.

Usually defective tires burst or its outer covering (tread) disintegrates which can cause rollover crash and collision.

Meanwhile, even tires which passed the federal safety standard can be defective after few years of running. According to safercar.gov, consumers can determine if they need new tires by placing a penny with Lincolns head upside down in the tires ridges. When people can see Lincolns head because the raised section is worn out, it means the tires should be replaced by new ones.

Defective childs safety seats and latches

The NHTSA usually announces recalls of defective safety seats which have been found to contain highly flammable materials, have incorrect designs, have buckles that require extreme pressure to be opened or these automatically unlatch, and have weak frameworks.

Defective seatbelts

One of the most recent seatbelt recalls involved Toyota Motor Corp which made an announcement that its Yaris has defective seatbelts which can ignite after a high-impact collision.

According to reports, about 1.35 million Yaris have defective safety harness.
Another controversial issue involving defective seatbelt is the Chryslers Generation 3 (GEN3) buckle which may unlatch during a rollover crash or collision. And because of this faulty defect, more than a dozen people were killed and 30 others were seriously injured.

To prevent such fatal accidents to happen again, the NHTSA requires seatbelt buckles to have a design that will not cause accidental unlatch.

Defective airbags

Air bag prevents people from hitting their heads against the windows and steering wheel and has been proven to increase the safety of car drivers and passengers. But when this safety equipment is defective, it may even cause serious or fatal injuries.

One example of defective seatbelt involved BMW which announced a recall on its 2004-2006 models which have a defective air bag on-off lamp.

Cars prone to rollover crash

The NHTSA conducted rollover resistance ratings and found that Toyota Tacoma Extended Cab Pickup is the most prone to rollover crash among other tested vehicles. With this result, the agency asked the carmaker to improve its design to reduce the possibility of accidents.

Meanwhile, even if the car has impressive resistance rating, rollover crash may still happen due to over-speeding and sharp turns.