A Defective Car Part and Your Crash Claim

Most crash claims focus on a driver who was speeding, distracted or impaired. Sometimes the vehicle itself is part of the story: a tire that comes apart at highway speed, brakes that fail, a steering part that breaks, or an air bag that does not deploy or deploys with dangerous force. In those cases, defective product law adds companies that can be held responsible beyond the drivers involved, and it changes what evidence has to be saved right after the crash.

This guide explains how the product tests apply to vehicles and parts, how a recall fits in, how fault is divided between a driver and a manufacturer, and why the damaged car may be the most important evidence in the case.

What happens in a crash claim with a defective part, step by step?

Stop the car from being repaired, sold or scrapped. Tell your insurer and any tow or storage yard, in writing, that the vehicle must be kept as it is. Once it is crushed, the part that failed is gone.
Get the crash report. It names the drivers, owners and insurers and records what officers saw. Our guide on how to get the crash report in Sonoma County explains where to ask.
Check the vehicle for open recalls. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) offers a recall search by vehicle identification number (VIN) or license plate at nhtsa.gov. The VIN is on the lower left of the windshield and on the registration card.
Protect the vehicle's recorded data. In California, data from a factory-installed event data recorder may be downloaded by someone other than the registered owner only with the owner's consent, by court order, for anonymous safety research, or by a dealer or technician servicing the car (Vehicle Code 9951).
List every company connected to the part. That includes the vehicle maker, the maker of the part, the dealer or store that sold it, and any shop that installed, inspected or repaired it.
Keep the claim against the other driver going. A product claim does not replace the claim against a careless driver; both can be brought together.
File within the deadline. An injury lawsuit must generally be filed within two years (Code of Civil Procedure 335.1), whether the defendant is a driver or a manufacturer.

Who can be responsible when a part fails?

Party	Basis for a claim	Source
Vehicle manufacturer	Strict liability for a manufacturing defect, a design defect or a failure to warn	CACI 1200 to 1205
Maker of the part	Strict liability if its part was itself defective; if the part was fine, only if it substantially took part in integrating it into a defective design	CACI 1208
Dealer or parts store that sold it	Strict liability as a seller; warranty claims if you bought from it	CACI 1200 to 1205; CACI 1231
Shop that installed, inspected or repaired the part	Negligence in installing, inspecting or repairing	CACI 1220
Manufacturer that learned of a danger after sale	Negligent failure to recall, retrofit or warn	CACI 1223
Rental company	Failure to use reasonable care to inspect, make safe and warn of known dangers	CACI 1224
Another driver	Negligence, with fault shared by percentage	CACI 1207B; Civil Code 1431.2

How do the defect tests apply to a car?

The same three kinds of defect apply to vehicles as to any product: a manufacturing defect, where one tire or part differs from the design or from other units; a design defect; and a failure to warn. Our guide on manufacturing defects, design defects and failure to warn explains each test in detail.

Design claims about cars raise a special question: can ordinary drivers judge how safely a complex machine should perform? A decision the Judicial Council quotes under CACI 1203 says the critical question is not whether the product, considered in isolation, is beyond the ordinary consumer's knowledge, but whether, in the context of the facts and circumstances of its failure, ordinary consumers can form minimum safety expectations about it. A steering wheel that locks at highway speed may fit that test. A question about how a frame should absorb a side impact may instead go to the risk-benefit test, where the company must prove the benefits of its design outweigh its risks (CACI 1204).

Under the risk-benefit test, the jury weighs the gravity and likelihood of harm and the feasibility, cost and disadvantages of a safer design. A decision quoted under CACI 1204 allowed a jury to consider appearance as a benefit of a car's design, because much of a car's perceived value lies in how it looks. The Judicial Council's notes to CACI 1204 also explain that evidence of other manufacturers' design choices may be admitted in some cases, with a limiting instruction if requested.

What does a recall mean for my claim?

NHTSA's recall page explains that a recall is issued when a manufacturer or NHTSA determines that a vehicle, equipment, car seat or tire creates an unreasonable safety risk or fails to meet minimum safety standards. Manufacturers notify registered owners by first class mail within 60 days of notifying NHTSA of a recall decision, and owners can have the recalled part fixed for free at a dealership. NHTSA also takes safety complaints from drivers, which are added to a public database after personal information is removed.

A recall can be strong evidence, but the law does not make it a requirement. None of the Judicial Council's strict liability instructions lists a recall as an element, and a defect can exist in a vehicle that was never recalled. Where a manufacturer learned of a danger after the vehicle was sold, a separate negligence claim asks whether a reasonable manufacturer would have recalled or retrofitted it (CACI 1223). If an owner never brought the car in after a recall notice, a decision the Judicial Council quotes under CACI 1223 says that does not automatically absolve the manufacturer, because a manufacturer cannot delegate responsibility for the safety of its product to dealers, much less purchasers.

Who pays when a driver and a defect both caused the crash?

A crash often has more than one cause. A tire may fail, and a following driver may be too close to stop. The Judicial Council's notes to CACI 1207B say its comparative fault instruction may be used to allocate responsibility between a negligent defendant, such as a driver, and a strictly liable one, such as a manufacturer. The jury assigns percentages that total 100 percent and finds the total damages separately.

For pain and suffering and other noneconomic damages, each defendant generally pays only its own percentage (Civil Code 1431.2); that limit does not apply to economic losses such as medical bills and lost earnings. Our guide on who pays when several parties are at fault walks through that math. Inside the product's own chain of distribution, the rule is different: there is no comparative fault among companies in the distribution chain of the same product, and each remains fully liable for the economic and noneconomic damages (Directions for Use, CACI 1207B). Our guide on suing the store or seller of a defective product explains why that matters.

Your own conduct counts as well. If you were negligent, your damages are reduced by your percentage of responsibility (CACI 1207A). Misuse or modification of the vehicle defeats the claim entirely only if it was so highly extraordinary that it was unforeseeable and was the sole cause of the harm (CACI 1245).

What changes the answer?

You were a passenger or a pedestrian. A decision quoted under CACI 1200 says strict liability is not limited by privity of contract and that bystanders deserve protection where injury to them is reasonably foreseeable, so you need not have owned the car.

The car had been modified or worked on. A shop's negligent repair can be its own claim (CACI 1220), and a third person's negligent modification can be assigned a share of fault (CACI 1207B).

You were driving for work. Workers' compensation does not affect claims against anyone other than your employer, including a manufacturer (Labor Code 3852). See workers' comp and a claim against the other driver.

The other driver was working, or drove someone else's car. An employer or owner may share responsibility; see holding a driver's employer or a car's owner responsible.

The defect showed up long after the crash. If you did not know, and had no reason to suspect, that a defect played a role, the discovery rule may affect the start of the clock (CACI 455); see deadlines for a product injury that shows up later.

The company knew and did nothing. Proof that a company acted with conscious disregard of safety can support punitive damages (Civil Code 3294); see punitive damages against a manufacturer.

What could this look like? An example

For example, imagine a driver heading south on Highway 101 near Petaluma whose nearly new rear tire separates. Her car swerves into the next lane and is struck by a pickup that was speeding. She is badly injured. Her insurer plans to total the car, but she asks in writing that it be held, and the tire and wheel are preserved.

She can bring claims against the tire maker, the store that sold and mounted the tires, and the pickup driver. If a jury finds the tire defective and the pickup driver negligent, it may assign, say, 70 percent of responsibility to the tire's chain and 30 percent to the pickup driver. The tire maker and the store, as part of the same chain, would each be responsible for that 70 percent share without dividing it between themselves, and the pickup driver would pay its 30 percent of her noneconomic damages. Her lawsuit would be due within two years. This example is made up to show how the rules fit together; it says nothing about any real case.

What mistakes do people make after a crash involving a possible defect?

Letting the insurer sell or scrap the car before the failed part is inspected.
Replacing or repairing the part and throwing the old one away.
Letting anyone download the car's recorded data without the owner's consent or a court order.
Assuming no claim exists because the car was never recalled.
Pursuing only the other driver and missing the companies behind the part.

What should I do this week?

Send your insurer and the storage yard a written request to hold the vehicle as it is.
Photograph the car, the failed part, the tire tread or the deployed air bag, and the scene if you can return safely.
Run a recall search on nhtsa.gov with your VIN and save the results.
Gather the purchase, service and repair records for the vehicle and the part.
Open claims with the other driver's insurer and keep every claim number. Our guide to the first 30 days after a car accident in Sonoma County covers the rest of that list.
Write down how the car behaved just before the crash, while you remember it clearly.

Frequently asked questions

Can I bring a product claim if the other driver was clearly at fault?

Yes, if a defect was also a substantial factor in causing your harm. The jury can assign shares of responsibility to both (Directions for Use, CACI 1207B).

What if my air bag did not deploy, but the crash itself was caused by another driver?

A defect does not have to cause the collision to matter. The question under each strict liability instruction is whether the defect was a substantial factor in causing your harm, not whether it caused the collision itself (CACI 1201, 1203 and 1204).

Should I report the problem to NHTSA?

You can. NHTSA says complaints are added to a public database after personal information is removed, and similar reports from many people can lead it to open an investigation.

Can the insurer download my car's data?

Not without the registered owner's consent or a court order, unless one of the narrow exceptions in Vehicle Code 9951 applies, such as a dealer or technician servicing the car.

Does it matter that the part was aftermarket, not original?

It changes who is in the chain. The company that made and sold the aftermarket part, and any shop that installed it, may be responsible instead of, or along with, the vehicle maker (CACI 1201 and 1220).

Is this an auto accident case or a product case?

Often both. Our auto accident page covers the driver claims, and the product claim is added for the companies behind the vehicle or part.

Where would the case be filed?

An injury lawsuit may be filed where the crash happened or where a defendant lives (Code of Civil Procedure 395). Our page on injury cases in Sonoma County covers the local court and agencies.

If you think a vehicle defect played a part in your crash, contact Young Law Group today at (707) 343-0556 or through our contact page for a free consultation, ideally before the car is repaired or scrapped.

Can a defective car part be the cause of my crash claim?