Washington DC
Product Liability Lawyer

What makes a product legally “defective”? It usually boils down to one of three main problems. These categories clarify how a product liability claim might take shape.

Design Defects

Sometimes, the danger isn’t just in one faulty item, but in the entire product line. A design defect means the product’s blueprint or formulation is inherently unsafe. No matter how carefully it’s manufactured according to specifications, the design itself poses an unreasonable risk.

Consider an SUV model designed with a high center of gravity that makes it excessively prone to rolling over during routine turns. Or a medication formulated with an ingredient later found to cause severe organ damage, even when taken as directed. The problem lies in the core design concept.

Proving a design defect requires showing that the risks of the design outweigh its benefits and that a safer, economically feasible alternative design was available that the manufacturer failed to use. This requires significant investigation and often involves engineering or scientific analysis.

Manufacturing Defects

Other times, the product’s design is perfectly safe, but something went wrong during production or assembly. A manufacturing defect occurs when a specific unit or batch departs from the intended design, making it hazardous.

Imagine a batch of processed food contaminated with foreign objects due to faulty factory equipment. Or a single bicycle assembled with a cracked frame that wasn’t caught by quality control. Perhaps a specific implantable medical device has a faulty seal that wasn’t present in others from the same line.

These defects are often anomalies – the product is dangerous because it wasn’t made according to the manufacturer’s own standards. Proving this involves demonstrating how the specific product differs from the intended design and how that deviation caused the injury.

Failure to Warn (Marketing Defects)

Finally, a product might be designed and manufactured correctly, but still be unreasonably dangerous if sold without adequate instructions or warnings about potential risks. This is known as a failure to warn, sometimes called a marketing defect.

Manufacturers have a duty to inform consumers about non-obvious dangers associated with the foreseeable use (and sometimes misuse) of their products. If a power tool lacks clear instructions on safety gear needed during operation, or a chemical cleaner doesn’t adequately warn about toxic fumes in poorly ventilated areas, the manufacturer could be liable for resulting injuries.

Similarly, if a pharmaceutical company fails to disclose known serious side effects of a medication on its labeling, it could be responsible for patient harm. The warning must be clear, specific, and prominent enough to alert the average user to the risk.