Personal Injury Attorney Twin Cities MN

Product Liability Case; Automobile Accidents Lacking Electronic Stability Control

Electronic Stability Control (or “ESC”) systems actively monitor a vehicle’s directional control and then act to maintain it.  According to a July 2007 National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) report, crash data from state databases and the Fatality Analysis Reporting System showed a 36 percent reduction in fatal single-vehicle crashes in ESC-equipped passenger cars and a 63 percent reduction in fatal single-vehicle crashes in ESC-equipped light trucks and vans (LTVs), including SUVs. And the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has reported that ESC reduced the risk of all single-vehicle crashes by more than 40 percent and the risk of fatal crashes by 56 percent.

This technology has been available in the late 1990s – in fact Mercedes began including ESC as standard equipment on some of its vehicles in 1995.   Still, many manufacturers still do not include ESC as standard equipment on many model lines – especially the more economical lines.

ESC is particularly effective in reducing on-road rollovers and spin-out crashes.  If you crash involves these types of pre-impact travel, determine whether the vehicle was equipped with ESC.  If there is no ESC system on a 2000 or later model year vehicle, there may be a viable product liability case. 

So whether you’re in Minnesota, Wisconsin or anywhere in the country, contact Champion Law for a free case evaluation.  Minneapolis: 612-743-4918; St. Paul: 651.766.5886.

Product Liability Cases: Vehicles Without Rear View Cameras. Twin Cities MN Attorney

Rear view cameras are simple lifewsaving devices that allow the driver to see what is immediately behind the behicle. They consist of a small camera mounted on the back of the vehicle’s instrument panel. The cameras allow drivers to see small children behind the vehicle, thereby preventing senseless death and injurt to childres. Manufactuars tend to classify these devices as “convenience” features, to assist with parking or make backing up easier, ignorin their obvious safety advantages.

Several manufactuars provide these cameras as standard equipment on some of their vehicles. Minivans are often equipped with these devices (creatin the inference that manufactuerers know rear-view cameras help prevent drivers from backing over children who are often around minivans). They are relatively inexpensive and the technolohy has been available for years. There is no good reason not to equip vehicles with these safety devices.

If a driver of a vehicle that is not equipped with a rear-view camera backs into or over a cild, there may be a product liability claim against the manufacturer for failing to equip the vehicles with such a device. So whether you are in Minnesota, Wisconsin, or anywhere in the country, contact Champion Law for a free case evaluation. Minneapolis: 612-743-4918; St. Paul: 651-766-5886

Expert Attorney Dealing with Automobile Accident Product Liabilities, Including Rollovers. Twin Cities MN

Although rollovers account for a relatively low percentage of accidents, occupants in rollovers are statistically more likely to be seriously injured in rollovers than other types of crashes.  Too often, cars, trucks and SUVs rollover because of defects in the vehicle or tires.  Making matters worse, the vehicle often fails to protect occupants in these crashes, in other words, there are crashworthiness defects in the vehicles.  There are many often viable product liability claims relating to rollover crashes.  Some include:

• Defective tires or tire failures;
• The vehicle is defective due to poor handling and stability characteristics (suspension systems) and a high center of gravity;
• The roof is too weak to protect occupants in rollover crashes;
• The doors and glass break, allowing occupants to be either completely or partially ejected out of the vehicle;
• The seatbelts to not automatically retract in a rollover to hold the occupants to the seat; and
• The vehicle is not equipped with rollover-triggered side canopy airbags. 

 Rollovers are a complex subset of product liability cases.  The science and medicine requires mastery not only by the engineering and medical consultants, but the lawyer handling the case.  At Champion Law, we have successfully tried rollover product liability cases across the country.  So whether you’re in Minnesota, Wisconsin or anywhere in the country, contact Champion Law for a free case evaluation.  Minneapolis: 612-743-4918; St. Paul: 651.766.5886. 

Automotive Product Liability Accidents, Twin Cities MN Attorney

Automobile crashworthiness: did the car protect the occupants?

In Automotive product liability speak, accidents are divided into three parts;

1. First Collision
2. Second Collision
3. Post-crash protections or problems

“First” collision relates to what most people think of as the accident: the vehicle hitting something else another vehicle, a tree or the ground when it rolls over. An example of first-collision avoidance technology are anti-lock brakes.  Newer technologies include Electronic Stability Control – or ESC. 

“Second collision” refers to the collision between an occupant and something else – either inside or outside of the vehicle.  The focus is on protecting the occupant once an accident happens.  This area of product liability is commonly referred to as “crashworthiness”, or the manner in which the vehicle protected – or failed to protect – occupants in an accident, thereby increasing the severity of the injuries.  Too often, cars, trucks and SUVs don’t do enough to protect people in crashes because of defects in the restraint systems (e.g. airbags and seatbelts) or vehicle structures (e.g. the roof collapsing in a rollover). 

Minnesota law recognizes the crashworthiness doctrine of product liability cases.  Plaintiffs in crashworthiness cases have the burden of proving that the alleged defect was a substantial factor in causing the plaintiff’s increased injuries, but need not show specifically which injuries would have occurred but for the defect and which injuries were enhanced. (Post-crash protections will be discussed in a later entry.) 

 If you or someone you know was needlessly injured because of a defect in a car, truck or SUV anywhere in the Twin Cities, greater Minnesota, or anywhere else for that matter, you need a tough and experienced lawyer to handle your case against the car companies. Call us in St. Paul at 651-766-5886 or Minneapolis at 612-743-4918 for a free case evaluation