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Defective Seatbelt Lawyers
The job of a "restraint system" is to keep the occupant of a vehicle safely in position during a crash event. Seatbelts, airbags and restrain systems generally, can fail to do their job for a variety of reasons. The seatbelt itself may be defectively designed. "Lap only" seatbelts are one example. Rather than providing full restraint protection, lap only belts restrain only the lower portion of an occupant during a frontal impact. The results can be devastating and include spinal and internal injuries. The attorneys of the Gomez Law Firm have successfully handled those types of cases.
Some seatbelts are prone to "unlatching" during a collision. "Inertial unlatching" occurs when forces act upon the buckle, causing it to release in a crash. The "RCF-67" buckle design is one example, and is found in a variety of vehicles. Those, and similar buckles, that lack a "lock" to prevent inertial unlatching, may open during a variety of collision events. Often, the police report that the victim of inertial unlatching was not wearing his or her seatbelt at the time. We know what to look for to prove that our clients were belted, and that the seatbelt buckle failed. Other buckle failures include "false latching" and buckles that can open when struck during a collision. We know how to prove those defects too.
A restraint system fails to do its job when it fails to keep an occupant safe and out of harm’s way. Accordingly, and where a manufacturer decides not to provide "pretensioners" or other effective retractors, that can also be a defective design choice. Pretensioners tighten a seatbelt following a collision event and typically "fire" at the same time generally as airbags. Many vehicles lack them. Likewise, the "retractor" is the mechanism that allows the seatbelt to release webbing, and can have a variety of designs. The wrong design choice can allow the seatbelt webbing to "spool out" or otherwise become too loose in the event of a crash.Finally, a manufacturer’s choice of where to anchor the seatbelt may expose an occupant to unnecessary risk. For example, the decision to attach the seatbelts to the seat ("all belts to seat") typically is a safer alternative than attaching the seatbelts to roof pillars, especially when those pillars may be compromised due to roof crush.
Our attorneys have handled cases involving defective and dangerous restraint systems, including seatbelts, under virtually every circumstance and in a variety of States all over the country.
We know the science and the history of restraint system design choices, and how to spot when something has gone wrong. We know the experts and the auto companies. Call or write us today for a free consultation.
Actual Defective Seatbelt Case Handled by the Gomez Law Firm
In this case, a young girl needlessly suffered injury in the frontal collision of her Pontiac Transport Van because she was wearing a "lap only" seatbelt. Her center seating position lacked the "shoulder harness" available in every other seating position. As a result, and during the frontal collision, she "jackknifed" or folded over the seatbelt, breaking her back and suffering a variety of internal injuries. The other occupants of the vehicle walked away relatively unharmed. The Gomez Law Firm investigated and filed the case, and after litigation, obtained a confidential settlement on the girl's behalf.
