In many cases, one of three main things is to blame when someone gets hurt by a product. The product might not have been well thought out (poorly designed), built incorrectly, or come with the proper instructions. These issues can hurt people badly or even kill them. If that happens, the business that made or sold the item might be held legally responsible.
You might need to talk to a product liability lawyer at TopDog Law if you were injured by a defective product. In these legal cases, it’s important to prove how the product was defective. The law only recognizes three main types of defects in products. Each one makes it possible to sue if the product hurts someone.
Design Defects
If there is a design defect, it means that every product made from that design has the same problem. The way the product was planned or made makes it dangerous. These are mistakes that will happen all the time; they damage the whole line of products.
It is a design defect if the company chooses a risky design when there is a safer one available. There is no talk about what went wrong during production in these cases. Instead, they look at whether the design of the product itself made it dangerous.
As an example:
- A gun that shoots even when the safety is off.
- A painkiller that makes heart attacks more likely than safer options.
If a jury decides that the design of a product was too dangerous, the company is fully responsible. That means they are legally responsible even if their negligence wasn’t proven.
Manufacturing Defects
When a product doesn’t match the design that was meant, this is called a manufacturing defect. Even if the design is safe, something went wrong while it was being made. One item or the whole batch can have this kind of defect.
It’s not always easy to find these because most of the other products work fine. However, one of the products might be bad because of poor materials, errors during the assembly, or contamination.
Some examples are:
- A mattress filled with toxic foam because of a mistake made by a supplier.
- A car whose gas tank explodes when it hits something.
- Planes that can’t take off or land because parts were installed incorrectly during production.
These mistakes must be found by manufacturers before the goods reach customers. If they don’t and someone gets hurt, they could be sued to pay for the damage.
Warning Defect
There are times when a product does what it’s supposed to do but still causes harm because the instructions are missing or not clear. A warning defect happens when a company doesn’t warn people about known risks. These can be just as dangerous as defects in the design or the way the product was made.
The law says that companies have to tell people how to use their goods safely. That means letting them know about risks that aren’t clear. The company can be held responsible if someone gets hurt because they didn’t know about the risk.
Examples include:
- Selling coffee at 185°F without warning that it can burn people.
- Knows the risks but doesn’t tell people that cigarettes cause cancer.
Warnings need to be clear and put in places where people can see them. The company must make it clear if a product has any special risks.
All three of these defects, design, manufacturing, and warning, can cause serious harm. When people get hurt because of a company’s products, the law holds them accountable. These three types of defects can help you understand your rights if you or someone you know has been hurt.
