Seat Defects

Seat belts can be an effective means of restraint. However, seat belts become useless in an automobile accident when the seat itself fails. Auto seat defects can occur in a variety of ways:

Seat Back Defects
If a seat back collapses rearward in a rear impact crash there is the potential to injure the occupant and the passenger in the seat behind. Neither the seat belt nor the airbag can prevent injury when this product defect occurs.

Seat Track Defects
If the force of a rear impact causes the seat tracks to separate, the seat will collapse backward and throw the occupant toward the rear of the vehicle, likely causing head and neck injury and harm to anyone unfortunate enough to be sitting in the rear seat.

Rear Seat Defects
Many rear seats are designed to fold down to provide extra storage space. A poorly designed rear seat can malfunction in a crash, folding over on the occupant or allowing cargo to hurl forward from the trunk/hatch area.

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While any injury is hurtful to experience both physically and emotionally, it is truly tragic when severe injury occurs in an otherwise minor collision, or due to a faulty design. If you or a loved one has been injured in an automobile accident due to a defective car seat, contact Langdon & Emison to speak with an experienced lawyer about holding the manufacturer accountable for their conduct.