What are the Most Common Defective Products?

Peter Olszewski

In 2021, injuries caused by consumer products went up nearly 7% after falling in 2020. In total, consumer products injured a total of 11,738,091 people, and they all deserved compensation for their injuries from what seemed to be common defective products. Not all of them could when they didn’t have a product liability attorney by their side.

The product liability attorneys at Scartelli Olszewski, P.C. hear from people who were injured by common defective products all the time. They bought something that was supposed to make life easier, bring them more enjoyment, or keep them safe, and it hurt them or a loved one instead. We aim to help these people get back to their lives and receive compensation for their injuries. No one should have to suffer from an injury that’s not their fault.

If you want to avoid injury, take care when buying these common defective products. If you have been injured, contact the product liability attorneys at Scartelli Olszewski, P.C. today.

What are the Three Types of Product Defects?

Not all product defects are made equal. Some are more dangerous than others and more common than others. How common they are, how damaging they can be, and who is responsible are usually linked to the type of defect it is. There are currently three types of product defects.

Design Defects

If there is a defect in the design of the product, this means it was never going to work as advertised. It was manufactured and marketed correctly, but could never do what it was meant to. This means that the product was always inherently broken and its approval for release was a mistake. An example would be a new car model that doesn’t work because the new engine can’t handle going a certain distance or a certain speed.

In this instance, the one responsible would be the business or firm that designed the defective product. You can also sue investors or businesses that own or contract out the designing firm if necessary.

Manufacturing Defects

If the original patent for the product can do what it was designed to do, but the product is still broken out of the box, it may not be a design defect. Likely, there was an error in its construction, and if it was constructed properly, there would be no issue. Defects like this happen during manufacturing in the factories. A factory may have a broken construction device, or workers were overworked, leading to errors being made and a number of products having defects.

In this situation, it would be the manufacturer who is responsible for an injury caused by the defective product. You can also file a lawsuit against the design firm/business that contracted the manufacturer, but it’s often better to sue the manufacturer, assuming they are separate businesses.

Marketing Defects

If a company designs a product properly and the manufacturer constructs it as instructed, but the marketing decides to tell consumers something completely different from the designer’s intention, this is a marketing defect. In this instance, there’s nothing wrong with the product itself, but what people have been told the product will do. This is common with medicine, where something can be made with the intention of doing one thing, but be sold because it also does another.

Marketing defects do not always cause injuries, but when they do, they have catastrophic effects. The marketing team is usually a part of the company that designed the product, but if they’re separate, they can be held liable as well.

The Most Common Defective Products

Several products are commonly defective in one or two ways. To be safe, you should always be sure to research a product or brand to make sure the odds of safety are high. Otherwise, you may end up using a defective product that hurts you or a loved one. Here are common defective products (or families of products) that you should be careful about when purchasing.

• Airbags: This safety device for your car is notorious for having issues. They may deploy at the wrong time, not at all, or with too much force. A notorious example of this was the Takata Air Bag which sprayed shrapnel at car passengers when the airbag went off. Airbags usually have design defects and manufacturing defects.
• Appliances: Household appliances such as blenders, washers, dryers, space heaters, stoves, and more have been known to have manufacturing defects depending on the brand. It’s not uncommon for one of these devices to cause a fire that can consume a house and seriously injure someone. Always research a major appliance before making a purchase.
• Children’s toys: Children’s toys come with several different features meant to entertain, but sometimes they add features that aren’t safe for children. They can cause burns, serve as choking hazards, or contain lead. Additionally, some toys are advertised to be safe for the wrong ages, which can lead to a younger child being hurt.
• Food: Food can be defective in a number of ways. Food can be manufactured poorly, leading to the creation of new diseases; it can be designed/bred/grown in poor conditions or with dangerous chemicals that make it poisonous; it can be falsely advertised as safe for specific diets. There are a number of ways for food to be defective.
• Firearms: Guns and other firearms can be defective in their design or manufacturing, but manufacturing is the most common. An injury that isn’t due to user error has to be from the firearm malfunctioning and not shooting correctly. A common example of this can be when a gun doesn’t shoot, or even explodes in someone’s hand. This is usually a manufacturing error.
• Medications: There are many examples of defective medications and medical devices across all three types of product defects. Medicine can be ineffective at its goal, manufactured wrong, or advertised wrong. Personal injuries caused by defective medicine can be immediate, or over time.

What Should You Do if a Common Defective Product Harmed You?

No one should have to pay for someone else’s mistakes, let alone a corporation. If one of these common defective products leads to you or a loved one being injured, see a doctor. The first thing you need to do is treat your injury and find out what caused it. Once you’re well enough and you know the cause, our product liability attorneys can help you.

We’ll help you establish fault, and explain what type of defect you’re been injured by. Then we can form a case against those responsible so you can be compensated for your medical bills, your recovery, and any other pain and suffering they have caused you. Contact our product liability attorneys today for help.