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Defective Consumer Products

Most goods that you buy, except houses, motor vehicles and large equipment, are consumer products. Consumer products are considered defective if they are improperly designed or manufactured or fail to warn the consumer of the product's dangers. Manufacturers of consumer products have a duty to sell safe products to consumers. If you are injured while using a defective consumer product, you may be able to recover damages from the manufacturer.

Appliances

Consumers have recovered damages for defective electric blankets and defective coffee makers that started fires. A consumer was awarded damages from the manufacturer of a pressure cooker after the consumer was injured when the lid of the cooker exploded. After experiencing carbon monoxide poisoning because of a defective space heater, a consumer recovered damages from the manufacturer.

Home Products

When a chemical drain cleaner was poured into a clogged drain and the drain cleaner exploded, a consumer recovered damages after being sprayed by the dangerous chemicals. Damages were awarded to a consumer who received injuries from coming in contact with a weed killer.

Clothing

Consumers have recovered damages where articles of clothing, such as a skirt and a bathrobe, caught on fire after coming in contact with a lit cigarette or a burner of an electric stove. In some clothing cases, damages were awarded because the manufacturer or seller failed to warn the consumer that the garment was very flammable.

Lawn Mowers

Lawn mowers are subject to legal safety requirements. A consumer was awarded damages for injuries caused by mower blades that extended an unsafe distance beyond the wheels. A malfunction of a clutch mechanism, which caused a mower to drive over an embankment, was held to be grounds for recovering damages for personal injuries. In numerous cases, the courts have awarded damages to operators or bystanders who were injured when an object like wire or a rock was discharged from the mower.

Home Power Tools

There are legal safety requirements for home power tools. A consumer who was hit in the eye by a staple while using a staple gun to build wooden boxes was awarded damages because of the faulty design of the staple gun and inadequate warnings. A manufacturer of a power saw was held liable for injuries sustained by a consumer because of a missing or inadequate safety guard for the saw blade.

Sports Equipment

Consumers have recovered damages because of injuries sustained as a result of the defective assembly of a variety of bicycle parts, including the brakes, wheels and frame. A manufacturer was held liable for injuries to a child when the chain of a swing broke while other children were twirling the child. A water skier was awarded damages after sustaining a broken leg. The jury found that the skis were defective because they failed to come off when the skier fell in the water.

Damages

Recovery for defective consumer products is based on strict liability (liability without fault), negligence (lack of care), or a breach of the warranty that a product is reasonably safe for its intended use. In general, you can recover damages for defective consumer products if you can prove that the product was defective, you were injured while using the product normally, and the defect caused the injury. For more information on a manufacturer's liability for defective consumer products, consult an attorney experienced in products liability law.

Copyright 2009 LexisNexis, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc.