Malfunctioning Car Features: Even Safety Features Designed to Protect You Can Malfunction

Many cars today come equipped with advanced safety features that are designed to reduce the chance of sustaining injuries while traveling.  Safety features that are aimed at preventing motorist injury can range from a simple seatbelt to antilock brakes to forward crash avoidance systems and rear-view cameras. The advancements in safety devices over the past several decades have both helped to reduce crashes and have made it possible for more motorists to survive when crashes do occur.

Unfortunately, sometimes the very safety features that are designed to be helpful in protecting consumers can end up malfunctioning and causing great harm. A key example of this involves Takata airbags which violently exploded and caused many motorists to be seriously injured or killed in what should have been minor or no-injury accidents and simple fender-benders.

If safety features fail in a car, this failure could prompt a widespread recall if the defect or problem affects all vehicles of a particular make or model. For those whose cars are having repeated problems that are not subject to a recall, however, resolving your problems could be more challenging. Nevertheless, it may be possible to explore different legal options with the help of a San Diego lemon law attorney.

Car Safety Features Can Malfunction

There are several different ways in which car safety features can malfunction.  Even basic features can work poorly with devastating consequences. For example:

• Seatbelt failures can occur: Problems may include a failure of the seatbelt to properly latch or becoming unlatched upon impact from a car crash. Inertial unlatching can also be an issue. This occurs when the crash impact results in the seatbelt disengaging after impact because the force of the car crash impacts the seatbelt's release mechanism.  Excess slack in a seatbelt could also be dangerous.
• Airbags: The Takata airbag recall illustrated one big problem that can happen with airbags: they can explode or open in dangerous ways. Airbag defects could also increase the chances of harm in an accident if the airbag does not deploy at all due to a problem with the safety device.
• Antilock brakes: Antilock brakes are supposed to make stopping your vehicle easier by making sure that the brakes do not lock when you need them. Unfortunately, things can go wrong, including faulty wiring resulting in brake failures. When antilock brakes go bad, the wheels of the car could lock up and the car could end up skidding which significantly increases the chance that a motor vehicle accident will occur.

These are just a few of many examples that show how car safety problems could be dangerous for motorists. If your car has repeated issues with safety devices or with any of its components, you should talk with a lemon law attorney at The Bickel Law Firm, Inc.  Give us a call today to find out how we can assist you with your vehicle problems.