What is a Crashworthiness Case?
In layman’s terms, crashworthiness is the ability of a vehicle to protect the occupants of a vehicle in the event of a crash. Since the mid 1960s when seatbelts were first introduced, Federal Statutes have increasingly required that automobile designers incorporate safety standards to protect occupants. Since that time case law in almost every jurisdiction in the United States has recognized that automobile crashes are foreseeable and that the automobile should be designed and manufactured to provide a reasonable degree of protection to occupants involved in foreseeable crashes. It is important to note that not all automobile products liability cases are crashworthiness cases. In Florida, there is a distinct advantage to having a crashworthiness or secondary impact case as opposed to the automobile product defect that causes the crash.
Under the landmark Florida Supreme Court case of D’Amario vs. Ford Motor Company, 806 So.2d 424 (Fla. 2001) in secondary impact cases where it is alleged that the defect in question enhanced or totally caused the injury or death, the negligence of either the driver or any third party would be inadmissible at trial and the verdict form would only include the manufacturer of the alleged defective product. Hence, in a situation where the driver may be speeding and as a result of unlawful speed crashes into a barrier causing his car to burst into flames and severely burn him, the negligent acts of the driver would be inadmissible if the claim were against the auto manufacturer for having a defective fuel tank.
A careful distinction must be drawn between those cases that are secondary impact cases versus cases that are accidents causing defects. For example in a situation where there is a defective tire involved and there is a tread belt separation the D’Amario analysis may not apply. The D’Amario analysis usually applies to defective seatbelts, roof crush cases, defective seatbacks, door opening(s), gas tanks and sudden acceleration or parked to reverse cases.