A product liability claim focuses on whether or not the product is defective. In automobile cases, the defective product could be the entire vehicle, or a component part such as the seat belt assembly or tires. Unfortunately, the average motorist has no idea how unprotected he will be in an accident as a driver or passenger in one of these defective vehicles. Often, causes of action for product liability claims are hidden from the untrained eye.

Beasley Allen Law firm recently settled a wrongful death case against Continental Tire and Ford Motor Co. The lawsuit arose out of the death of an 8-month old girl in a vehicle rollover. The infant was killed when the car seat in which she was buckled was ejected from a Ford F-150 four-door pickup truck when the left rear door latch self-actuated and the door flew open. We learned a great deal about Ford's handling of door handle-latch assembly defects during pretrial discovery in the case.

Beasley Allen recently settled a wrongful death case against a major automobile manufacturer involving the failure of a seat belt to restrain the driver during a rollover crash.