Defective Seat Belts and Seat Belt Injuries Lawsuits in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Statewide

It is not reasonable to assume that a seat belt will always protect drivers and passengers from serious harm. Car accidents are violent by nature, and there is the potential for injury during any collision. However, it is entirely reasonable to assume that a seat belt designed to enhance a person’s safety will, in fact, keep that person safer. Certainly, a seat belt should not cause vehicle occupants any harm. Unfortunately, there are a number of manufacturing and design malfunctions that can cause seat belts to significantly harm vehicle occupants or even cause wrongful death.

The risks associated with inadequate and defective seat belts are especially severe for children. NHTSA data confirms that the leading cause of death and serious injury to children under 14 years old is motor vehicle accidents.

Learn more about the design and manufacturing issues that can compromise a seat belt’s ability to protect you and your passengers, including the heightened risks seat belts and booster seats can pose for children. For victims who believe a seat belt caused their injuries, the defective seat belts attorneys at Brady Law Group can file lawsuits to hold negligent auto manufacturers responsible. Contact our firm in the San Francisco Bay Area today for a consultation with Steven Brady or a highly qualified member of our legal team. We represent victims and their families in Los Angeles and the entire state of California.

Latch Malfunctions

There are two defective seat belt latch malfunctions that can potentially cause harm to users: inertial latching and false latching. Inertial latching occurs when users correctly fasten seat belts, but the latch plate pulls out of the buckle as a result of inertia during a collision, causing the belt to unfasten. False latching occurs when users believe they have correctly fastened their seat belts, but the belt is not, in fact, secured. Though the belt may look and feel secure—there may even be a “click”—the belt is not completely fastened, and users are not protected.

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Lap-Only Belts

The dangers of lap-only seat belts have been known for years, yet these belts are still placed in cars manufactured today. By restraining only the waist area and lower body of an occupant during collision, the lap-only seat belt can cause the spine to jerk, stretch, or snap. This can cause injuries to the head, face, abdomen, and spinal cord, leading to paralysis or even death. If you suspect that lap-only seat belts contributed to or caused your injuries during an accident, contact our defective seat belts attorneys near San Francisco and Los Angeles today.

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Shoulder Belts and Retractor Failures

Seat belts that extend diagonally across the body from the shoulder to the waist are much safer for vehicle occupants than lap-only belts. However, significant design and manufacturing defects can render shoulder belts dangerous or even deadly. If the shoulder belt is mounted at an improper angle, it could place harmful pressure on a wearer’s neck during a collision, which could result in severe injury, strangulation, or death.

An added danger associated with defective shoulder seat belts is created by the retractor system on which these belts function. In many cases, the retractor system is faulty, allowing for too much slack in the event of a collision and not supplying adequate restraint. If you believe that you or someone you love has been injured in a car accident as a result of unsafe or faulty shoulder belts, contact our defective seat belts attorneys near Los Angeles and San Francisco for a free review of your case.

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Vehicle System Failure

Our defective seat belts attorneys in the Los Angeles and San Francisco areas use the term “vehicle system failure” to refer to a deadly combination of factors. Seat belts are designed to work together with other safety systems and structural aspects of the vehicle to protect passengers. In cases where it is believed that defective seat belts and insufficient seat belt restraint caused a person’s injuries, these problems could have been compounded by roof crush, defective seat backs, a defective airbag, or a number of other failures.

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Child Seat Belt Injuries and Lawsuits

Appallingly, automakers are aware of a “safety gap” that leaves children age four to eight in grave danger in the event of an automobile accident, but have not taken steps to improve safety features for these passengers. Smaller children, such as infants and toddlers, are strapped into special safety restraints and seats, and older, bigger children can be restrained by adult seat belts and airbags. It is the middle-sized children, especially those who weigh less than 100 pounds, who are virtually unprotected in the event of a crash and who suffer the greatest risk of death, paralysis, or other serious seat belt injuries.

According to our lawyers, much of the problem lies in the fact that children who are too big for child safety seats are often strapped into cars with seat belts that are designed to maintain the safety of much larger adult passengers. In seat belt lawsuits, it can be argued that these “defective” seat belts are not manufactured to protect smaller passengers from harm. Our seat belt injuries attorneys in the Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, and statewide have argued repeatedly that automakers and seat belt manufacturers have a responsibility to ensure the safety of all passengers, no matter how big (or small) they are.

A common side effect of children restrained by adult harnesses in a collision or accident is known as “submarining,” a situation in which the seat belt remains fastened but the child simply slips under the belt and is thrown into the cavity of the vehicle, or worse, is ejected from the vehicle entirely. This action can cause the child’s spinal cord to jerk or stretch, and the child may be subjected to other serious injuries as a result of making contact with other components of the vehicle or from ejection. If you feel that your child was injured in an automobile accident despite efforts to restrain him or her with a seat belt, you may be able to file lawsuits to bring responsible parties to accountability. Contact the California firm of Brady Law Group today to have your case reviewed.

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Booster Seats: A False Promise of Safety

Some parents and drivers assume that they have protected young passengers by harnessing them to booster seats. Unfortunately, there are currently no safety testing standards, crashworthiness guidelines, or government safety regulations for booster seats made to support children who weigh more than 50 pounds. These seats can tip and can come loose, exposing small passengers to grave danger.

Automobile crashes are the leading cause of accidental death related to injury for children ages 4 to 14 in the United States. Auto makers are aware of the dire situation surrounding the safety of small child passengers, and have been urged repeatedly to take action to ensure the safety of these children. Child safety belts or safety seats need to be integrated into all vehicles sold in the United States. Though auto makers are fully apprised of the necessity of greater safety assurances for small children, they chose not to make needed design modifications and instead promote the same aftermarket booster seats that have been proven ineffective and unsafe for many child passengers.

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Contact Brady Law Group for Seat Belt Injury Lawsuits and Representation

It is our hope that educating consumers on the dangers of defective and ineffective seat belts will pressure auto manufacturers to take the steps vital to assuring passenger safety. Until then, the California attorneys at Brady Law Group will continue to represent victims of defective seat belts and seat belt injuries in lawsuits in Los Angeles, the San Francisco Bay Area, and nationwide. We also litigate against insurance companies to ensure our clients obtain the compensation to which they are entitled. If you feel that you, your child, or a loved one suffered injury or worse as the result of inadequately safe seat belts or restraint systems, contact Brady Law Group today to have your claim evaluated.

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Contact our defective seat belts lawyers after child and adult seat belt injuries in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, and throughout California.

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Steven Brady and the Brady Law Group also litigate cases surrounding: