Georgia Injury Law Blog
Auto Defect Blamed in Fayette County Child’s Death
It’s too soon to tell for sure, but investigators seem to believe that a mechanical defect was to blame for the tragic death of a 6-year-old child in Fayette County last week. The accident occurred when the Chrysler Sebring 1999 which was apparently in park mode, began rolling down the driveway, and struck the boy. He died instantly.The Fayette County sheriff’s office is blaming a defective ignition park interlock device for the accident.
Auto defects have been heavily in the news over the past couple of months. Aconspiracy of silence is currently unraveling at Toyota. Auto defects are being blamed for uncontrolled acceleration in several Toyota vehicles. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has already confirmed 34 reports of deaths or severe injuries as a result of accidents caused by the acceleration.
Also this year, Honda Motor Corporation recalled a series of vehicles for air bag defects. This defect has contributed to at least one death in Oklahoma, and has resulted in a lawsuit against Honda. The defect causes the motorist to be injured from shrapnel during airbag deployment.
There is any number of factors that can contribute to an accident.Auto defects are just one of them, but these also happen to be some of the most difficult factors to prove.Toyota’s acceleration problem was evident as far back as 2002, and personal injury lawyers in Atlanta and elsewhere had been coming across cases where fatalities and injuries occurred after a car begin to speed up on its own, and then crashed.For automakers, admitting defects can set off a headache that can ultimately cost them billions of dollars, and an eroded reputation that can prove even costlier. Not surprisingly, the modus operandi at most automakers is to blame just about everything else for the crash, except the car itself. By the time an automaker is forced to respond to the issue, several people may be injured, or even die.