Understanding what’s Defective in Defective Products

August 25th, 2010. By Kristine B

It’s a phrase we hear thrown around all the time in relation to lawsuits, and it’s one that many people vaguely recognize but may not fully understand: defective product. This week, Pleading Ignorance examines defective products.

A defective product is one that doesn’t work as expected and puts the user at risk of unexpected danger. Defects can occur in how the product is designed, how it’s manufactured or how it’s marketed (if the advertising for a product gives unreasonable expectations for how safe the product is).

Defective products can be any product a person buys: medications, medical devices, furniture, food, toys, automobiles…you get the picture. Even if the consumer doesn’t purchase the specific component but purchases a product that involves the defective component (think here of defective automobile brakes, where the consumer purchases the car, which includes the brakes), the product is still defective. In such cases, the victim may be able to sue the manufacturer of the defective component part and the maker of the overall product (in this example, the maker of the brake and the vehicle manufacturer).

Now—and this is important—the product must be used in the manner it was designed for. Using the product in an unintended manner and hurting yourself doesn’t make the product defective. So, if you use a knife to pick a lock and cut yourself, that doesn’t mean the knife is defective. Likewise, if you buy something from, say, IKEA (see photo above) and think that you know better than their engineers and you go and toss the supplied instructions for a more aggressive (and truly) DIY approach, don’t go crying “defective product” later when whatever you’ve built doesn’t quite “work”.

Also, there are some products that are inherently dangerous (chainsaws, explosives and so on). People claiming that these are defective have to show that there was a lack of proper warning about the safety related to the product or they have to show that the product malfunctioned even though they followed all instructions. If an explosive works as intended, it’s going to explode. But, if there weren’t adequate safety warnings about how to safely set off the explosive, or if the explosive went off before it was meant to, through no fault of the user, then the explosive could be a defective product.

Products that do not carry adequate warnings about their use or the risks involved in their use may also be considered defective. This is where some drug liability lawsuits come in. A drug may work exactly as intended but if the drug causes serious side effects and users aren’t warned about those side effects, then the drug could be considered defective.

To protect yourself, always read the safety warnings and instructions with any product you purchase and be sure to use the product only in the manner it was intended to be used.

Tags: Defective Product, Pleading Ignorance

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