Kansas City Seat Belt Defects Lawyer

Seat belts and air bags combined make up the restraint system of the vehicle.  When seat belts are designed and work properly, they are undoubtedly a vehicle’s most important safety feature.  When they don’t, the result is often serious personal injury or death.

Any case where belted occupant suffers serious personal injury or death in what should otherwise be an uneventful crash or accident must be investigated for a seat belt defect.  Given the wide variety of seat belt systems which have been utilized by vehicle manufacturers over the years, there are many different types of seat belt defect cases. 

Lap Belt Only

The rear middle seats of some vehicles are equipped only with a lap belt.  Occupants restrained by only a lap belt may jack knife over the belt and receive serious injuries as the belt webbing cuts through the soft tissue of the abdomen.  Internal injuries and spinal injuries, including paralysis, often result.  Head injuries can also occur from the lack of restraint of the upper torso and head.

Passive Restraint

These motorized seat belt systems are door mounted and give occupants a false sense of security when the shoulder belt slides into place around them.  Unfortunately, many occupants then fail to put the manual lap belt on, which can result in serious personal injury or death in the event of a crash.

Seat Belts with Rip Stitching

These seat belts include an extra “loop” of seat belt anywhere from four to sixteen inches long designed to tear at a designated force level during a crash.  Unfortunately, excessive slack is introduced into the seat belt system when the loop deploys and occupant restraint compromised.

Retractor Failure or Spool Out

Retractors are the components responsible for locking the seat belt during a crash.  Defects in retractors can result in the failure of the retractor itself to lock during the crash, as well as “film spool” effect of a locked retractor.  The failure of the retractor to lock can be caused by defective design of the retractor, as well as the failure of components within the retractor.  

Seat Belt Webbing Failure

Seat belt webbing should be able to withstand the forces generated in most accidents without ripping or tearing apart.  The cause of seat belt webbing failure can be defects in the webbing itself or defects in the design of sharp components which cut the webbing in a crash.

Poor Seat Belt Geometry

Many times car manufacturers overlook smaller sized occupants when designing a vehicle’s restraint system.  This can result in seat belt designs with lap belts that end up too high on the occupant’s abdomen and which cross occupant’s the neck instead of the shoulder.  Either situation can result in serious personal injuries and death to the occupant in an otherwise survivable crash.  When children are involved, these are also sometimes referred to as “forgotten child” cases.

False latching

False latching occurs when the buckle sounds, looks and feels like it is buckled when it actually is not.  In a crash, the buckle can become unlatched, resulting a complete lack of restraint for the occupant.

Inertial unlatching

Inertial unlatching occurs when the forces generated during a crash cause a locked seat belt buckle to release.  This can happen in all accident scenarios, but is especially problematic for some seat belt buckle designs during rollovers.

Inadvertent unlatching

Inadvertent unlatching occurs when the seat belt buckle releases as a result of inadvertent contact by an occupant or other vehicle component.  This most often occurs when some body part of the occupant makes inadvertent contact with the release button during the accident.