The Houston defective product attorneys at Denena Points, PC were pleased to be able to win a strong financial settlement for the bereaved family members of a 42-year-old mom killed in tragic rollover wreck when her seatbelt unlatched and she was thrown from her vehicle. The mom was part of a 3-vehicle caravan. She was driving her four children in the family SUV, a Ford Expedition, near Kountze, Texas when she lost control of the vehicle.
She lost control when she swerved to avoid crashing into a large BBQ pit that fell out of the vehicle in front of her. The Ford Expedition flipped over several times and the mom was ejected from the SUV. She suffered severe trauma injuries to the head and torso and died shortly following the tragic wreck.
Houston Defective Product Attorneys Aggressively Pursue the Family’s Claim based on Design Defects in the Ford Expedition
The grieving family members filed a lawsuit against the car dealer and manufacturer. They claimed that Ford had known of the high rollover risk posed by SUVs, but had not provided adequate protection to vehicle occupants in the event of a rollover wreck when they designed the Ford Expedition. Ford’s design defects failed to account for the major dangers of high-risk rollover wrecks: vehicle ejection, seatbelt performance, and roof crush. SUV rollovers cause about 12,000 head injuries and 3,000 spinal cord injuries each year.
Houston defective product attorneys Chad Points and Tony Denena proved the family members’ claim that defects in the design of the Ford Expedition and the driver’s seatbelt restraint system caused the mom’s tragic death. Their careful presentation of the evidence and qualified expert testimony showed that the Ford Expedition was difficult to handle and unstable in foreseeable emergency evasive maneuvers like the one experienced by the deceased mother, and that the SUV’s occupant restraint system and roof structure failed to offer appropriate protection and containment during rollover wrecks.
Design Defects caused the Seatbelt to Unlatch in the Rollover Wreck, causing the Fatal Injuries
Specifically, the family claimed that the seatbelt buckle had a tendency to unlatch during accidents and impacts and that this defect led directly to the ejection, injuries, and death of the mother driving the family’s Ford Expedition that day.
Ford of course tried to deny everything and put the blame back on the deceased victim. But careful investigation and technical analysis by engineers can determine when a seatbelt tends to unlatch under accident conditions. And so Ford agreed to pay the victim’s family members a financial settlement for the needless loss of the children’s mother.
Our Houston defective product attorneys point out that the most common defect that causes seatbelts to fail is inertial unlatching. This happens when a seatbelt suddenly becomes unlatched and releases you from its safety restraint. It happens because of a “false latch” problem when your seat belt might have looked, sounded, and felt like it was securely latched, but it was not. The false latch problem causes its greatest dangers during high-speed impacts and rollover wrecks: then, you might get suddenly ejected from your vehicle during a crash.
Learn More about Seatbelt Defects, What Kind of Defects Cause Seatbelt Failures, and What you can do after an Unlatching Seatbelt Harms you or a Family Member
Click here to read this article by our Houston defective product attorneys. And if you or your loved ones get injured in a dangerous rollover accident and you need help, don’t hesitate to contact us for a free, no obligation legal consultation. We can help. And we’re available anytime through our online contact form or by phone at 281-369-4363.