The importance of removing defective cars from the road is seen as a way of reducing motor vehicle accidents that have taken lives of many people.

Defects can kill car occupants by causing a road accident, or by making a survivable incident extremely dangerous.

There are performance requirements set by the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards for vehicle parts that may affect a vehicle's safety operation. A vehicle should also provide protection to occupants against injury or deaths in the occurrence of an accident. These requirements were imposed to ensure all kinds of equipment and vehicles certified for use on roads and highways are safe.

Defects Related to Occupant Safety

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) was given the authority by the National Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act of 1966 to impose vehicle safety requirements. It can also ask manufacturers to recall cars or other motor vehicles which have been proven to have safety defects or do not meet safety requirements.

Many equipment and car recalls are voluntarily initiated by manufacturers before the NHTSA can become involved in the situation. They are required to inform NHSTA, among car owners, distributors, and dealers if they discover a safety defect in their product.

Here are some examples of car safety defects:

• Wheels that break or crack, that result to loss of car control.

• Steering components that suddenly break causing complete or partial loss of car control.

• Problems concerning fuel system parts, especially their vulnerability to crash damage. This may cause fuel leakage of car fires.

• Car jacks or rams that collapse can inflict injury to anyone working on a car.

• Safety seats that have defective buckles, seatbelts, or components.

• Air bags that suddenly deploy even in situations wherein they are not supposed to do so.

• Problems in the wiring system that can cause fires or loss of proper lighting.

• Important components that fall apart, separate, or break causing the driver to lose control of the car.

Defective Cars and Liability Claims

People who were injured due to a defective vehicle may be entitled to file a product liability claim.

These claims usually come in two kinds:

• Car or car parts that were defectively manufactured- These claims are concerned with cars or car parts that were manufactured improperly. It may occur due to a fault at the manufacturing area where the car or car part was made, or a problem that happens during the shipping.

• Cars that are designed dangerously- These claims involve car or car parts that possess an irrationally dangerous design that causes injury. A car that is properly manufactured may still be defective due to the nature of its design.

Professional guidance from attorneys should be sought by people who want to have a successful liability claim. The experience of these legal experts in handling different cases concerning car defects will give their clients a higher chance of being compensated.