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There is nothing more frustrating than buying a new item only to get it home and discover that it is defective. It is irritating and you know you have to turn around and go back to the store to get a refund or exchange. But what if that product caused you bodily harm? Who do you turn to them? What if you are in a car wreck and your air bags fail to deploy? You cannot just return to the dealership and demand a new vehicle or a new body if you were seriously injured. Thankfully there are laws to protect you. Product liability is something that everyone has to take into account. From the person selling electronics to the cannery that produces your favorite vegetable. All products have to be held liable to a higher law. This article will cover many of the product liability laws and how you can make sure that you are protected.

What is product liability?

What are the types of product liability?

There are essentially three different areas that product liability covers. These are manufacturing defects, design defects and a failure to warn (a.k.a. the marketing defect). As you can see with the three in place it basically covers all products that are offered for public consummation. Manufacturing defects could be anything from the eject button on a DVD player not working correctly to an airbag not deploying quickly enough. Design defects are when the overall product is not designed properly and thus pose a hazard. And of course a failure to warn is that sticker or long list of warnings that accompany most products these days. If you want a very clear example of a failure to warn liability it would be the wrap around tag that is found on handheld hair dryers. The hair dryer tag very clearly warns not to put the plugged in appliance in water due to the danger of electrocution.

What is negligence?

Negligence is the term used in product liability claims where someone is making a statement that the product did not meet a certain standard or was unsafe. When a product does fail or causes harm then the negligence claim will become more focused when it comes to a court of law. The court will have to decide, based on evidence, whether or not the person who used the item was negligent by not paying attention to the instructions or care of the product or if the company was negligent. In a negligence case it is always the manufacturer that comes under fire. The counterpart to this is strict liability.

How is the consumer protected with product liability?

Product liability protects the consumer by ensuring that they are not cheated when they purchase an item. They are also protected should something go wrong with the item that is a clear defect on the part of the manufacturer. They are also protected should something go wrong with the product and they become injured. By holding a manufacturer liable should anything go wrong, within certain guidelines, it means that the consumer is protected.

What types of products are covered under product liability laws?

Any product that is offered to other people is covered under product liability laws. It does not matter if it is given away or if it is purchased. It can be from a small, corner store or a huge conglomerate. If you are offering the public a product you have to make sure that it is safe. By that same token if an item is given away as a prize or such, you (the consumer) cannot come back and demand money for that prize. There are some limitations. The main thing that these laws do is protect consumers from loss of money, merchandise or anything that might endanger their health. It is probably why you see so many warning labels on items that your purchase. The manufacturer must protect their own assets so they often provide lots of warnings that many people take as common knowledge. But if they did not put that warning sticker on it, then someone could later come back and sue them.

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Product liability law developed very gradually through the course of the 20th century, and has come a long way from where it originally began. It used to be that nobody could sue for injury from using a product if they weren’t the one who had the original contract with the manufacturer. So if such laws applied today, if you got shocks from a faulty power supply in a drill you bought at the hardware store, you couldn’t sue because the store and the manufacturer were the ones with the contract.

The first changes came when exceptions were made for products that were “inherently” or “imminently dangerous,” like guns, explosives, food and a few other health related products. But gradually the assumption was made that if any item could be expected to place health or life in peril, and if the product was negligently constructed, then liability should apply to those other products as well. It didn’t matter if you had a contract or not with the manufacturer. Finally, the idea of “strict liability” took hold, stemming from the concept that there is an implied warranty on items, which follows them down the purchasing chain.

What this means is that even if you didn’t buy the item, but it was defective and injured you, product liability law states that the manufacturer is still liable. You don’t even need to prove negligence, because that’s already demonstrated by the product’s failure. “Strict liability” stared with food, then again moved through various health products, and eventually was applied to all consumer products as well. New Jersey and California were the first to make these changes in the early 1960s, but now all other states have done so as well, and all follow the Uniform Commercial Code, in which these laws are contained.

Only a slight rein has been put on product liability law in recent years, as some protections have been restored to retailers, who frequently play little role except to pass to the consumer the boxed items they get from the manufacturer. Retailers had been sued, as those with “deep pockets,” when the actual manufacturer was out of reach, and this wasn’t entirely reasonable. What is means for you, as a seller of products, is that even if you assume you’re under strict liability for those products, you should check the specific details in every state in which you do business.

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