San Diego Auto Defect Attorney

Extensive Experience Handling Auto Defect Cases

The McClellan Law Firm enjoys a national reputation for excellence in client service in complex personal injury and wrongful death litigation of all kinds, but the greatest source of our success has been our work in automotive product liability.

We have sued most of the car manufacturers in the world for serious claims ranging from defective seat belts to poor crashworthiness in a collision or rollover.

We at The McClellan Law Firm represent clients throughout Southern California in product liability litigation against auto manufacturers in cases where a serious or fatal motor vehicle accident was caused by a dangerous defect in design or construction.

We also handle cases where the defective component or system was not the direct cause of the accident but resulted in injuries or death that would not have occurred otherwise.

Examples of the kinds of cases our attorneys accept include:

• Seat belt failure, airbag failure, or both
• Lack of an electronic stability control (ESC) system
• SUV rollovers caused by the vehicle's inherent instability
• Defects in exotic autos, race cars, or high-performance models
• Roof crush injuries caused by inadequate structural support
• Car fires caused or worsened by a defective fuel line or gas tank design
• Head, face and eye injuries caused by defective auto windshield or window glass
• Sudden acceleration, in which the vehicle speeds or lurches forward
• Tire defects such as tread separation, belt edge detachment, or tire bead explosion
• Transmission defects, in which a car in park or neutral suddenly slips into a forward gear

Our familiarity with automotive defect claims gives our clients a substantial if obvious advantage: Instead of assuming that the other driver's insurance limits (together with your own underinsured motorist coverage) represent the upper limit of what we can recover for you, we regard that figure as a point of departure.

What is an Auto Defect?

An auto defect refers to any flaw, malfunction, or issue present in a vehicle that deviates from its intended design or performance standards. These defects can arise during the manufacturing process, assembly, or even design stages of vehicle production. They can affect various components of a vehicle, including its engine, transmission, brakes, steering system, electrical system, airbags, and more.

Crashworthiness & Auto Defects

Crashworthiness refers to those properties of a car that protect its passengers in the event of a collision. Auto manufacturers need to design vehicles that offer a reasonable degree of protection in foreseeable types of collisions. Too often, manufacturers sacrifice crashworthiness to other vehicle design and performance features, and to profit.

In auto defect cases involving crashworthiness issues, we work closely with experts to analyze the results of test data. This helps to indicate the vehicle's safety performance under different accident scenarios and the conscious choices made by the manufacturer to address or ignore deficiencies.

Drivers and passengers have a right to protection from auto accident injuries that are caused or aggravated by such vehicle crashworthiness defects as:

• Inadequate structural strength resulting in roof crush injuries
• Failure of seat belts or air bag systems
• Unreasonable risk of injury from broken windshield or window glass
• Insufficient "crumple zone" performance in head-on or rear-end collisions
• Unreasonable risk of ejection due to door latch failure
• Fires or explosions caused by defective fuel line or gas tank design
• Unreasonable risk of being driven into the steering wheel or dashboard
• Inadequate interior padding to protect against fractures or injuries to internal organs

We work effectively with design experts, engineers, and automotive safety professionals to develop and present your crashworthiness claims as thoroughly as possible. With more than $250 million in damages recovered for our clients to date, our record of success in auto defect litigation speaks for itself. Contact The McClellan Law Firm today.

Recovering Compensation from an Auto Defect Claim

California follows a strict liability standard for product liability claims. This means that plaintiffs don't need to prove negligence on the part of the manufacturer or seller to recover damages. Instead, they must demonstrate that the product was defective and that the defect caused their injuries or damages.

Injured parties must demonstrate several elements to succeed in their claim:

1. Existence of a Defect: The plaintiff must show that the auto part in question was defective. This defect can manifest in various forms, including design defects, manufacturing defects, or failures to warn about potential dangers associated with the product.
2. Unreasonably Dangerous: The defect must render the auto part unreasonably dangerous to consumers when used as intended or in a reasonably foreseeable manner. This means that the defect poses a risk of harm beyond what an ordinary consumer would expect.
3. Causation: The plaintiff must establish a causal link between the defect in the auto part and their injuries or damages. They must demonstrate that the defect directly caused or substantially contributed to the harm suffered.
4. Reasonable Use: The plaintiff must show that they were using the auto part in a manner that was reasonably foreseeable by the manufacturer or seller. If the plaintiff was misusing the product in a way that was not intended or foreseeable, this may impact the success of their claim.
5. No Substantial Changes: The plaintiff must demonstrate that the auto part was not substantially altered or modified from its original condition in a way that contributed to the defect or the resulting harm.
6. Foreseeable Use by Plaintiff: The plaintiff must establish that they were a foreseeable user of the product. This means that they were within the class of persons that the manufacturer or seller intended or should have reasonably foreseen would use the auto part.

In addition to strict liability, plaintiffs may also pursue claims based on breach of warranty. Auto parts typically come with implied and/or express warranties, and if a defect breaches these warranties and causes harm, the injured party may seek compensation.

Multiple parties involved in the distribution chain, including manufacturers, distributors, and sellers, may be held jointly and severally liable for damages caused by a defective auto part. This means that each party can be held individually responsible for the full amount of damages, regardless of their percentage of fault.

Our Approach to Defective Motor Vehicle Claims

If we take on your case, we will carefully analyze the circumstances of your accident to see whether it would have been less severe if the safety systems of every vehicle involved had performed properly.

In cases where our experience and work with forensic consultants indicate a strong likelihood of liability on the part of a manufacturer, we stand an excellent chance of achieving a settlement or jury verdict for the full amount of your damages, without regard for the limits of any driver's insurance coverage. Automotive defect claims represent the largest single category of the $250 million that we have recovered over the years.