What Happens If You Are Injured by a Defective Auto Part?

If an automobile’s multiple parts, components, and systems fail to work properly, the car may stop running. However, when a part fails and leads to an accident and injuries, it can cause long-term harm to the people involved.

If you’ve been injured in a car accident caused by a faulty auto part, you may be able to pursue compensation for your losses through a product liability claim. In Alabama, a defective auto part lawyer from Stokes Stemle, LLC can help you seek compensation for your medical bills, lost wages, physical pain, mental anguish, and other financial losses.

Proving that a faulty part or multiple defective parts caused or contributed to your car accident requires specialized knowledge, experience, and resources that the legal team at Stokes Stemle, LLC can provide you.

Call or reach out to us online today for a free consultation with a defective auto part lawyer. Stokes Stemle, LLC is here to help you get justice.

Who is Liable in Defective Auto Part Cases?

Automotive and car parts manufacturers have a legal obligation to ensure that the products they sell to the public are safe when used as intended. Those who have been injured by faulty parts have a right to seek compensation for their losses.

When a defective consumer product injures someone, the manufacturer, distributor, and/or seller may be liable. In Alabama, most product liability cases focus on the manufacturer.

In our state, the Alabama Extended Manufacturer’s Liability Doctrine (AEMLD) is a unique application of “strict liability” that shifts the focus of product liability claims away from the vehicle manufacturer’s conduct to the safety of the product itself. In Alabama, the injured party does not have to prove the manufacturer’s negligence, that they knew or should have known the product was faulty. Instead, a claim must demonstrate only that the product was defective and that this defect directly caused their injury.

An automotive part may be found to be defective or faulty due to:

• Design Defects: Its design made it inherently dangerous, regardless of how well it was made or how it was used.
• Manufacturing Defects: It was dangerous because of errors made during its production or assembly.
• Failure to Warn: The manufacturer failed to provide necessary instructions or warnings about its safety hazards, which led to unsafe use.

The AEMLD requires the injured party to prove that the product reached the user without substantial alteration and that you suffered serious injury or property damage due to the product’s defective condition, which made it unreasonably dangerous.

Common Defective Auto Parts That Cause Accidents

Multiple vehicle components and systems can contribute to or cause car accidents if they fail. Some that are more commonly found to be defective and to have caused accidents include:

• Tires (e.g.,  blowouts and tread separation)
• Brakes
• Steering systems
• Suspension systems
• Power train, transmission, engine
• Lighting systems (e.g., headlight/taillight failures)
• Electrical systems, including ignition
• Restraint and security systems, i.e., seat belts, airbags, latches, door locks, child seats
• Software. Automotive systems are increasingly computerized; software defects can cause failures throughout the vehicle.

Common Injuries in Defective Auto Part Accidents

The failure of defective car parts may lead to single- or multi-vehicle car accidents and such traumatic injuries as:

• Traumatic brain injury (TBI)
• Spinal cord injury, including paralysis
• Back injuries
• Whiplash
• Broken bones
• Soft tissue injuries to ligaments, tendons, muscles, cartilage, and bursae
• Internal bleeding
• Lacerations
• Contusions.

Steps to Take After an Accident Caused by a Defective Auto Part

If you have reason to believe that the failure of a defective auto part played a role in a car accident that injured you or a loved one, you need to document the accident and preserve the evidence for a potential claim.

Under Alabama law, you must immediately report a car accident to police if it causes injury or death. If a crash causes injury, death, or over $250 in property damage, you must file a written accident report with the state within 30 days.

Immediately after an accident, you should:

• Call the police and an ambulance for the injured.
• Exchange insurance and contact information with other drivers.
• Get contact information from witnesses, if possible.
• Photograph vehicle damage and the accident scene.
• Go to the hospital with emergency responders (in the ambulance) if they recommend it. Otherwise, you should see a doctor within 24 hours. After receiving medical care, you must follow the doctor’s orders for follow-up care, including making all appointments.
• Contact a car accident lawyer.

How Stokes Stemle, LLC Can Help You

If you think your accident was caused by the failure of a defective auto part or defective vehicle, the legal team at Stokes Stemle, LLC can help you prove that failure as part of a product liability claim. Doing so requires contacting us promptly so we can access the damaged vehicle and have it examined by specialists who can identify the faulty part’s failure. Even if you don’t know if the part was defective, we can perform an investigation that might reveal vehicle defects that you did not expect.

When you contact our firm, we can act right away to ensure that your vehicle and/or the other driver’s vehicle is preserved as-is and made available to our accident reconstruction specialists, whose forensic work can pinpoint and explain the cause of the accident. We must obtain access before repairs are started or the vehicle is “junked” or altered in any fashion. This may require a court order if the other driver’s vehicle is suspected.

With our specialist’s report identifying a part’s failure, we can build a convincing defective auto part claim and negotiate with the liable manufacturer for full compensation to you. If we cannot resolve your claim with an appropriate settlement agreement, we will be ready to move forward with your case through litigation.

If the defective product that caused your car accident has been recalled, it may be the subject of existing lawsuits. In such a case, we may be able to help you join a class action lawsuit or multi-district litigation that is already before the courts or take advantage of an existing settlement.

Our team will review the details of what happened to you and advise you about your options for pursuing the most compensation available for your losses.

Contact Our Personal Injury Law Firm in Alabama About Defective Auto Parts

If you have been injured in an Alabama car accident, evidence that a defective automotive part or system caused the accident may be reason to pursue a product liability claim. An experienced car accident attorney from Stokes Stemle, LLC, and our expert investigators will work to determine the factors that contributed to your accident and who should be held accountable. You can count on us to stand up to reckless manufacturers and demand the money you deserve for your losses.

Stokes Stemle, LLC is here for you. Call or reach out to us online today for a free consultation with an experienced defective auto part lawyer.