Defective Seatbelts: Broken Buckles Lead To Injury And Death

This month Ford Motor Company settled a $131 million wrongful death lawsuit regarding a defective seat belt in their Ford Explorer SUVs. The lawsuit came after 22-year-old Brian Cole, a NY Mets minor league baseball player, was killed in a rollover accident after his safety belt failed.

Unfortunately, although seat belts save thousands of lives each year across the United States, defective seat belts can give passengers a false sense of security and be the difference between receiving minor injuries in a crash or dying in a crash.

Each year, multiple car companies from around the world announce car recalls related to seat belt defects and seat belt manufacturing mistakes.

Here are just a few types of possible seat belt defects:

• False latching and latching defects. If a latch comes undone during a collision (inertial latching) a seat belt loses all effectiveness. If a latch it “falsely latched,” or not completely latched by a passenger due to a defect, the belt will come lose if any minimal amount of force is involved.
• Faulty seat belt material. If the webbing, weaving and manufacturing of the seat belt material is defective, it could fail to protect a passenger in a traffic accident.
• Defective seat belt retractors. Seat belt retractors are designed to keep a passenger securely inside of the car in the case of an accident. However, defective seat belt retractors will give too much slack, allowing the passenger to be whipped into objects or thrown from a vehicle during a crash.

If you or a loved one have been injured in a car accident that involved a defective seat belt, contact a New York defective auto parts attorney today.