Seatbelts

Seatbelts are the most basic – and important -- safety feature in your car. They are mandatory and save thousands of lives in Hollywood and Florida each year because in car collisions they restrain passengers and prevent them from flying through the windshield or crashing up against the dashboard. By preventing too much movement, seatbelts can also help prevent whiplash and other injuries in some collisions. When seatbelt defects or design issues prevent seatbelts from working correctly, however, passengers and motorists can sustain serious injuries.

If your seat belt failed to work properly and you were seriously injured as a result, feel free to contact the law offices of Flaxman Law Group. The attorneys at Flaxman Law Group have more than six decades of combined trial and negotiation experience. As part of the Hollywood community, our team has launched thousands of product liability and personal injury claims on behalf of injured drivers and passengers. Through our work, our attorneys have recovered over $100 million on behalf of clients.

Several Things Can Go Wrong with Seatbelts

Sometimes, a seat belt may become worn with use and you may notice that it fails to catch. Even if you get into your car and the seatbelt clicks normally, however, it does not necessarily ensure that there are no problems. In a car accident, several things can go wrong:

• Fabric defects. The webbing and fabric of a seatbelt is supposed to be strong enough to restrain you in the event of a collision. If there are any minor defects in the fabric or webbing, the material could split or tear, rendering the seatbelt almost useless.
• Poor design. Seatbelts are meant to protect you in an accident. If they dig into you or the fabric causes lacerations to your neck, chest, and face, this could point to a design flaw that could be dangerous for you and other passengers.
• Torsion bar defects. In an accident, too tight a restraint can also lead to injuries, which is why seatbelts have a device known as a torsion bar which releases some of the seat belt. If the torsion bar fails, the seat belt may fail to restrain a passenger.
• Buckle failure. Buckles are designed to keep the separate parts of your seat belt together but if they fail they could open your seatbelt in a collision – just when you need the restrain system the most.

Pursuing a Claim After Seatbelt Failure Injuries

If you have sustained soft tissue injuries, lacerations, fractures, scarring, brain trauma, or other serious injuries because of a seatbelt defect, there may be multiple liable parties in your case. Most car makers outsource the manufacture of seatbelts to other companies and then simply put the seatbelts in their cars. Both the makers of seatbelts and car makers are expected to test seat belts to ensure that they will protect passengers in the event of a collision. If they fail to do so or know about injuries related to defective seat belts but fail to take action, both the car maker and the seat belt manufacturer can be held liable if their products cause injury. In addition, the at-fault driver in a car accident can also be pursued if they caused a collision that led to the injury in the first place.

Would you like to know who is liable in your potential claim? Would you like to know whether you have a claim – and how much that claim may be worth? Contact Flaxman Law Group today. Our law firm has offices in Hollywood, Homestead, and Miami so that our legal team can serve the entire South Florida area. We are dedicated to assisting those who have been injured and we have a team of engineers, accident reconstruction experts, and other professionals who can offer their expertise in complex seatbelt defect cases. For your free accident consultation, call us right now at 866-352-9626.