Tires play a critical safety role because they are the only part of the vehicle that constantly contacts the road. In this role, we rely on them to maintain proper traction with the road so that they can properly transmit acceleration and braking forces and respond to steer inputs from the driver. And don’t be fooled—they are by no means simple pieces of rubber. The modern tire is a complex structure created through a multi-stage manufacturing process in which rubber compounds, steel belts, and other materials are vulcanized together with heat and pressure.

Because of their complex construction, modern tires can fail in a variety of ways due to many different causes. Examples of tire defects and failure modes include: 

• Tread separation: Defects in the way the tire is designed or manufactured can cause the layers in the tire to separate and pull away from the tire’s body. The separation then often causes a loss of control because the tire can no longer properly grip the road, increasing the risk of a crash.
• Aging tires: The tire’s exterior condition does not tell the full story. Rubber deteriorates over time, particularly when exposed to the sun—and as a result, a tire which superficially appears to be in pristine condition may be on the verge of failure. Unfortunately, consumers are not properly warned about the danger of aging tires, and many retailers and service facilities continue to sell and install aged tires, leading to on road failures and crashes.
• Sidewall failures: Defects can cause a breakdown in the area between the tire’s tread and the bead (the edge portion of the tire which rests on the wheel rim), leading to rapid air loss.
• Zipper failures: Some catastrophic sidewall failures resemble a zipper opening—termed a “zipper failure.” These failures are particularly common in steel-reinforced radial truck tires used in commercial and heavy vehicle applications.
• Bead separation: The bead seals against the rim. Defects in the tire’s bead wire or bonding can cause the bead to lose its grip, allowing the inner edge of the tire to detach from the surrounding rubber or lose the airtight seal, resulting in rapid air loss and tire failure.
• Belt separation: Improper bonding, contamination during the tire curing process, and other flaws can cause the tire’s steel belts to separate from one another, which can cause tread separation and even complete detachment of the tread at highway speeds. 

The foregoing are just examples of the types of tire defects we commonly see in our practice. These failures can and too-often do have disastrous consequences, causing loss of control over vehicles traveling at high speeds, and in turn leading to severe crashes and catastrophic and fatal injuries.

Airbags are supposed to serve a critical safety role by restraining and cushioning occupants during crashes. To do their job, airbags deploy from the steering wheel, dashboard, and other places within the vehicle with incredible force and speed, inflating within just milliseconds. A properly functioning airbag should deploy at the right time and with the right amount of force to help prevent serious injuries. But defective airbags can quite literally backfire on the occupants, causing more harm than good.

Some of the most dangerous airbag defects we have seen in our practice include: 

• Failure to Deploy: Defects in the wiring, sensors, or software can cause the airbag to fail to deploy when it is needed most, leaving the occupants at risk of harm which should have been prevented or mitigated by the airbag. 
• Deploying Inadvertently or at the Wrong Time: Because they deploy with violent force, airbags can do more harm than good, particularly in minor crashes. Defects can cause the airbags to deploy when they should not, causing injury by the violent force of the deployment. 
• Deployment with Excessive Force: Defects can cause airbags to deploy quicker or more violently than designed, resulting in broken bones, facial injuries, paralysis, and even fatalities. 
• Exploding Airbags: Airbags rely on chemical propellants to ignite to rapidly fill the bag with air. Those propellants, in turn, are housed in metal inflators. The Takata airbag recall--which is the largest automotive recall inhistory--involved a defect in airbag propellant which caused metal inflators torupture and shoot shrapnel at drivers and passengers, leading to deaths and severe injuries around the world. Sadly, Takata is not the only manufacturer to have airbags explode in this manner. 

Our experience has shown that the above airbag defects can cause a host of severe injuries, including loss of an eye, disfigurement, paralysis, brain injury, and death. 

Seatbelts work alongside airbags to restrain occupants during crashes and prevent or mitigate injuries that would otherwise be suffered. Tragically, defective seatbelts can fail at the wrong moment for a variety of reasons, leading to devastating or fatal injuries to those relying on them for safety.

Some of the most common and dangerous seatbelt defects we come across in our practice include:

• Seatbelt Unlatching: It goes without saying that a seatbelt must remain latched to do its job. Defects in design and construction can cause seatbelts to unlatch when they are needed most, leaving the occupant unbelted and vulnerable. 
• Seatbelt Retraction Failure: Modern seatbelts are designed to lock in place during a crash to prevent the occupant from being thrown forward. However, defective seatbelts can fail to do so, leaving too much slack in the webbing and failing to restrain the person relying on the belt for safety. When this occurs, the user is at risk for serious head, neck, and chest injuries. 
• Torn or Weakened Seatbelt Webbing: Improper stitching, the use of low-quality materials, and other defects can cause the seatbelt webbing to rip or tear during a crash, leaving the seatbelt essentially useless. 
• Defective Seatbelt Pretensioners: Modern seatbelt technology includes pretensioners, which are supposed to tighten a seatbelt when a crash is detected. When properly implemented, this technology can greatly increase the safety of the user. However, poor implementation causes it to fail when needed the most, leaving the user at risk of harm. 

We are told every day to buckle up for safety—this is great advice, and those who heed it should be protected. When the seatbelt fails to properly perform its role the manufacturer can and should be held accountable for any severe or fatal injuries which result. 

It’s no surprise to automakers that a certain percentage of their vehicles will be involved in crashes. As such, they have a duty to design their vehicles to withstand such foreseeable crashes and provide reasonable protection to their customers in those instances. This is a well-known concept, referred to as “crashworthiness” in the automotive industry. The failure to design and manufacture a vehicle that is sufficiently crashworthy is known as a “crashworthiness defect.”

Some of the most common crashworthiness defects we see in our practice include:

• Seatback Collapse: Defects in the design or construction of seats can cause them to collapse during impacts. When this occurs, the vehicle’s occupants are placed at risk of severe spinal, brain, and other catastrophic and even fatal injuries. 
• Roof Crush: Weak roof pillars, structural weaknesses, inexpensive materials, and other design and manufacturing defects can cause roofs to crumple and even collapse into the occupant compartment during crashes—placing the occupants at severe risk of head, spinal, and other catastrophic and fatal crush injuries. 
• Defective Door Latches: Faulty latches can cause doors to spring open during crashes or as the vehicle is travelling at high speeds, putting the occupants at risk of being ejected. 
• Fuel System Failures and Post-Collision and Fuel-Fed Fires: Defects in the vehicles’ fuel systems can leave them vulnerable to rupturing upon impact, leading to deadly fires and explosions. Sadly, some manufacturers fail to properly design fuel tanks, install protective barriers, and employ other safeguards to prevent such tragedies. 

Again, automakers know that a certain percentage of their vehicles will be involved in a crash. Their failure to account for this reality by designing and manufacturing sufficiently crashworthy vehicles can and repeatedly has led to severe and fatal injuries. 

Automotive manufacturers often tout their vehicles, manufacturing processes, and designs as being on the cutting edge of technology with the most innovative safety systems, including those described as crash or collision avoidance technology (“CAT”). These systems use various technologies like radar, cameras, lidar, lasers, sensors, algorithms, and GPS to monitor the vehicle’s surroundings, detect potential hazards, determine the risk of a collision, provide warnings, and prevent or mitigate collisions.

Common CAT systems include:

• Lane Keep Assist: This technology uses sensors and cameras to monitor a vehicle’s position in its lane and steer the vehicle back into the center if it detects the vehicle drifting or departing from the lane. 
• Lane Departure Warning: This technology provides visual, audible, or haptic alerts to drivers when a vehicle drifts out of its lane without a turn signal activated.
• Automatic Emergency Braking: This technology uses cameras, radar, and other sensors to monitor the road to detect potential hazards such as other vehicles, pedestrians, or cyclists. 
• Forward Collision Warning: This technology uses sensors to monitor the road ahead and alert drivers to potential collisions. 
• Rear Cross Traffic Alert: This technology uses radar sensors to warn drivers of approaching vehicles when reversing.

Even though auto manufacturers describe this technology as “new”, much of it was developed over at least a decade ago. When operating correctly, this technology can and does avoid and mitigate crashes, reducing the number of catastrophic crashes and injuries. When such technology fails, or simply is not included in a vehicle for cost-cutting reasons, motorists are subjected to unnecessary risk of injury or death.