Toxic children's jewelry, cribs that can trap and kill children, infant slings that suffocate babies, cars with defective accelerators, poisonous food seasonings, power tools that endanger users - if you are a regular reader of this blog, you are aware of the many potential dangers the average Philadelphia consumer faces every time he makes a purchase. When you purchase a product in Philadelphia, you make the assumption that it is safe and will perform as advertised. As tragic experience has shown, sometimes that faith is misplaced and products we trust are defective, causing serious personal injury or death.
Manufacturers and suppliers can be held accountable for defects in products they produce or sell. Most product defects that result in Philadelphia product liability personal injury claims involve:
1. Defective design. Problems with defective products may begin almost at their inception with poor or faulty designs. Poor design is suspected in the acceleration problems associated with fatal Toyota car accidents and brake problems recently revealed on some GM cars.
2. Defective manufacture. Many product defects occur during the manufacturing process. Sometimes manufacturers do not follow product specifications or substitute inferior raw materials. This was found to be the case with toxic children's jewelry made in China. To save on manufacturing costs, Chinese manufacturers used toxic cadmium instead of aluminum to produce metal jewelry marketed to U.S. children. Only a few years ago, a similar problem erupted when Chinese manufacturers were found to be painting children's toys with harmful lead-based paint.
3. Defective marketing. Sometimes product marketing fails to adequately warn consumers of proper use or potential dangers associated with a product. Inadequate safety instructions and misleading package labeling have been cited by the parents of strangled infants in efforts to force the federal government to institute safety standards for window blinds.
Often it is only through product liability suits brought by Philadelphia personal injury attorneys that consumers are protected from defective products
Leave a comment