Seat belts are meant to protect us from injury. But a defective seat belt which fails mechanically or which is designed defectively can cause serious injuries in an auto accident. A defective seat belt can be worse than not wearing one at all, even though failure to wear a seat belt is responsible for thousands of deaths a year.

Lap-belt only seat belts, for instance, can fail in their government-imposed duty to "remain on the pelvis under all conditions, including collision or roll-over of the motor vehicle." FMVSS 209S.4.1(b). In a rear-end auto accident, an occupant restrained by a lap-belt only can slide up and backwards away from the lap-belt and out through a window. In a front-end car accident, the occupant can submarine down and forward, exposing the neck or spinal cord to serious injury. Other seat belt injuries are the result of inertial releases and mechanical component failures, which can cause the seat belt to release during a car accident. Additionally, if the seat belt anchor is not properly placed, it may not effectively prevent the passenger from moving towards the roof during a rollover. Furthermore, defects in the retractor of the seatbelt may also cause safety issues because it may result in slack in the seat belt, thereby allowing the passenger too much movement in the seat, which can lead to injuries in the event of a crash.

The design of an estimated 16 million seat belts has recently been brought into question. Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy organization, has gathered reports attributing 14 deaths and 19 serious injuries to the unlatching of GM's Gen-3 seat belts. The design of the seat belt features a slightly protruding release button, which is more likely to be inadvertently opened by passengers flailing during a rollover than belts with a flush button. The Gen-3 seat belt was replaced with a Gen-4 on the Dodge Durango and Dodge Dakota, but remains standard on many other models.

Seat belt deaths due to faulty seat belt deployment

The design of an estimated 16 million seat belts has recently been brought into question. Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy organization, has gathered reports attributing 14 deaths and 19 serious injuries to the unlatching of GM's Gen-3 seat belts. The design of the seat belt features a slightly protruding release button, which is more likely to be inadvertently opened by passengers flailing during a rollover than belts with a flush button. The Gen-3 seat belt was replaced with a Gen-4 on the Dodge Durango and Dodge Dakota, but remains standard on many other models.

If you have any questions about defective seat belt related injuries or deaths, please feel free to contact the auto accident attorneys at Eisenberg, Rothweiler, Winkler, Eisenberg, and Jeck. P.C..