Injured by a Defective Product: Your Rights as a Consumer

Being injured by a defective product can be a distressing experience that leaves you with physical pain, emotional distress, and financial difficulty. Fortunately, you don’t have to struggle to afford your mounting medical bills alone — you could be entitled to file a personal injury claim.

McAllen personal injury lawyer Dr. Louis Patino explains your legal rights so you can understand when you can recover compensation for an injury caused by a faulty product.

What Is Product Liability?

Product liability is a legal obligation to ensure that the products we use and consume — from food and medication to household appliances and tools — are safe. We often take this for granted, not giving it a second thought when we dry our hair that the blow dryer might overheat and cause burn injuries. You might not stop to question whether the playhouse where your children spend so much time has been manufactured correctly or might collapse and trap them.

We trust that companies get it right, but sadly, that’s not always the case.

Types of Product Defects

A product can be faulty for several reasons. There are three main types of defects recognized by the law, each typically occurring at a different stage of the product’s lifecycle.

Design Defects

The early stages of product development are critical. Before any object is manufactured or created, it must be designed. These designs must stand up to intense scrutiny, as they provide the blueprint the finished product is based on.

A fault in the design of a product filters through to the manufacturing stage, resulting in a fundamentally flawed product going to market to be purchased by consumers.

Examples of design defects include small parts on toys that children could choke on, a fan guard with gaps too large that could trap fingers, a guard that is too small to cover saw blades, and an incorrectly designed toaster spring mechanism that prevents toast from rising or does not cut off the toaster's power.

Manufacturing Defects

Manufacturing defects arise when a product strays from a safe design during production. Handmade items are particularly prone to these defects because the margin for human error is high. However, items created on a production line are also subject to these defects. If there is a flaw in a cutting machine or a piece of machinery is programmed incorrectly, entire batches of products can be affected.

Examples of manufacturing defects include food or medication contamination due to incorrect chemical composition or faulty packaging. Another common example that has dominated headlines in recent years is defective airbags. Millions of individuals worldwide have been injured by airbags using a propellant prone to severe degradation when exposed to temperature and humidity. Millions of cars potentially installed with faulty airbags have been recalled because of the risk of them improperly inflating and exploding, sending shrapnel into motorists.

Failure to Warn or Marketing Defects

A product can be perfectly safe in design and manufactured correctly according to that design, yet still be faulty. A failure to warn defect occurs when end users are not told about the risks associated with a product and how to use it safely.

Many everyday items are potentially dangerous. Medication can be life-saving in correct dosages, but it can also be deadly if a patient does not know how much to take or is not aware of what side effects to look for.

Cleaning products without warnings that they contain corrosive chemicals could burn the skin if users fail to wear gloves, or foods produced in a factory alongside products containing nuts or gluten could cause a severe reaction in someone with allergies.

Common sense is not a defense when these defects cause injury because they do not contain instructions or warnings.

Claiming Compensation for a Product Liability Injury

If you’re injured by a defective product, you are entitled to pursue compensation. A personal injury claim allows you to recover the cost of medical treatment and lost wages related to your injury in addition to compensation for pain and suffering, emotional distress, and other losses.

First, though, you must identify who is liable for your injuries. A fault can occur at any stage of the design, manufacturing, marketing, and selling process, so the manufacturer is not always liable by default.

For example, a designer may be responsible if the design of the product that injured you was inherently unsafe.

A parts supplier might be at fault if they supply products with a design or manufacturing defect to a manufacturer. We saw this recently with calls to recall 52 million airbags manufactured by ARC Automotive and Delphi Automotive Systems and used by carmakers including BMW, Ford, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Porsche, and Toyota.

You might even hold a retailer liable for your injuries if you can show they were aware of a defect and sold you a faulty product regardless, or if they removed warning labels or instructions from products designed to safeguard you from harm.

You should seek the advice of a personal injury lawyer with experience pursuing product liability claims if you are hurt. Product liability is complex and requires substantial evidence that a company developed a defective product. It can be intimidating going up against a company with millions or billions of dollars in turnover and the best legal counsel on standby, but a seasoned lawyer can explore whether you have a case, explain your options, and fight to get you the compensation you deserve.