Minnesota Seat Belt Defect Attorney

According to the NHTSA, seat belts save more than 10,000 lives in the United States every year. Wearing a seatbelt is the most effective way to prevent injury or death in accidents. During the accident, a properly designed seat belt will prevent passengers from being thrown about or ejected from the vehicle and will distribute the forces of impact to the strongest areas of the body – the hips, shoulders and chest. But if a vehicle’s seat belts are poorly designed or manufactured, serious injury or death can result.

Of course, seat belt performance issues vary widely from case to case. But the following scenarios may indicate a seat belt problem:

Both serious and non-serious injuries to belted occupants. For example, one belted occupant walks away while another belted occupant is paralyzed or suffers a serious head injury;
An injured occupant is found wearing a loose-fitting seat belt. This could indicate excess slack caused by improper retractor performance;
An occupant is found unbelted but witnesses swear the occupant was belted before the crash. Better yet, the occupant has seat belt marks on her body, but was unbelted after the crash. All of these could indicate unlatching or false-latching of the seatbelt buckle;
Serious injuries in only moderately severe crashes. When restraint systems work properly, occupants typically are not seriously injured in moderate speed crashes; or
The seat belt webbing is torn or ripped or the seat belt is pulled loose from one or more of its anchors.

*Nate Bjerke is the Chair of the Minnesota Association for Justice Product Liability Committee

You need an experienced seatbelt attorney to determine if your injury was caused by a seatbelt defect. Contact Champion Law for a free case evaluation.

The following are some common types of seatbelt defects:

Contact our office for a free evaluation!

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