As consumers, we’ve all experienced disappointment and frustration when a product doesn’t live up to expectations, but when a product causes a serious injury due to a defect, the consumer wasn’t merely exploited by a greedy manufacturer, they were directly injured due to a manufacturer’s negligence.
Product manufacturers owe a duty of care to design, assemble, and label products that are safe for reasonable use and won’t cause injuries. If a manufacturer breaches this duty of care and a consumer experiences a serious injury with significant damages like medical expenses, lost income, and pain and suffering, the manufacturer may be held accountable and must compensate the injured victim by bringing forward a claim with a St. Louis product liability lawyer.
What Products are Most Commonly Named in Defective Product Liability Claims?
Some defective products cause serious injury to users, even when the consumer uses them according to directions on the label. The following product types are those most commonly cited in defective product liability personal injury claims:
- Medications
- Motor vehicles
- Motor vehicle components
- Medical devices
- Infant sleep gear
- Children’s toys
- Cosmetics
- Power tools
- Household chemicals
- Home appliances
- Workplace equipment and chemicals
- Firearms and other weapons
- Fireworks/explosives
While other products may fail, fall apart, or malfunction, most don’t cause serious harm. The above product types are those with devastating consequences for unwary victims. When a manufacturer produces a product that causes serious injury, they are liable for damages. “Damages” in a defective product claim refer to all economic and non-economic consequences of an injury to the victim.
What Makes a Product Defective in Liability Law?
There are many ways a defective product may cause injury. In a St. Louis personal injury liability claims, defective products typically fall under one of three categories:
Design Defects:
When a product’s very design includes a flaw or overlooked element that makes it an innate danger even when used appropriately, the manufacturer of the product is liable for a victim’s damages. Design defects commonly arise in marketed products that lack proper safety testing prior to manufacture or when a common misuse of the product is overlooked by the manufacturer. When a product’s design is defective and causes harm even when manufactured, assembled, and used according to directions, the manufacturer commits an act of negligence in failing to recognize the defect before releasing the product to consumers. Window blinds with pull-string closures are a good example of a design defect. An average of nine children die each year as a result of corded window blind strangulation.
Manufacturing Defects
In some cases, a product’s design is flawless, but a manufacturing mistake occurs during assembly. In this type of defective product claim, the defect may exist in only a single one of thousands of the same product released, or it could exist in a single lot produced with a production error. When a mistake in the manufacturing of a product causes a dangerous product to harm a consumer, the manufacturer is liable for the consumer’s damages.
If a product misses an important component, is assembled incorrectly, or includes a substandard material and causes an injury, the manufacturer is liable for damages.
Marketing Defects or Failure to Warn
A manufacturer not only has the responsibility to choose safe designs and manufacture or assemble a faultless product, but they also have to label the product correctly to ensure its safe usage. If a manufacturer fails to label a product correctly, includes incomplete or incorrect instructions, or fails to adequately warn of inherent dangers or dangers associated with common misuse, they commit an act of negligence that leaves them liable for damages.