Hausmann-McNally analysis of car safety

Many car commercials tout the safety-oriented nature of the automobile’s company. The ads like to spout safety ratings and titles awarded to them by JD Powers and Associates.

However, this is just a good part of a marketing strategy of the auto corporations. But how much is reality?

Cost cutting is a big part of big auto. Competition is so intense and the line between failure and success so thin, that the companies have little choice but to continue to become ever more “efficient.” Unfortunately, efficient is a business term for reducing costs. When manufacturers take short cuts or skimp on materials, it can put people’s lives at risks.

If faced with the choice of saving the company money or improving safety features, most companies will…well, take a look at the evidence.

Hundreds of millions of dollars have been awarded against major auto companies for safety defects in their vehicles. In some cases, it was proven in a court of law that an automaker knowingly ignored a safety defect in order to save a few dollars per car.

For example, Ford Motor Company callously conducted a cost analysis which concluded it would cost $70 million fewer dollars to ignore its gas tank and bumper problem than to enact a recall of the vehicle.

The 27 deaths caused by the ignored defects in the Pinto cost Ford millions of dollars and greatly hurt the company’s image.

Similarly, in 1999, General Motors was hit with a $4.8 billion verdict after Patricia Anderson and her four children were severely burned after their 1979 Chevy Malibu’s gas tank exploded during a collision. Once again, it was proven in court through office memos that this major automaker chose the bottom line over safety.

In Brian Chase’s book, “Still Unsafe At Any Speed,” there are dozens of examples of car defects that led to horrifying injuries, (not to mention huge settlements), for crash victims. Some are complex, jargon-heavy problems with the engine. Others are as simple as a cheaply made seat belt.

So, you may ask yourself how these cases affect you. Well, unlike other law firms, the experienced personal injury lawyers at Hausmann-McNally just don’t look at your injuries when evaluating your case.

We also look at how you got those injuries, a crucial, yet subtle art that many attorneys overlook. We investigate the accident and determine if the mechanical or design defects in either the plaintiff or the offending party’s vehicle could have caused—or contributed to the accident and/or enhanced the injuries. In fact, personal injury lawyers’ decades-long crusade against automakers is a large part of what led to safer cars.

Charles Hausmann, president of Hausmann-McNally, said personal injury attorneys have been leading crusaders in improving car safety. (Nothing gets car makers attention so much as a multi-million-dollar judgment in a personal- injury case.)

“When I take a look back at my career, one of the things I am most proud of is the improved safety in cars,” Hausmann says. “Sadly, a major reason car companies invest in safety is if they believe it will save them from personal injury cases in the future.”

“Today, if we can develop vehicles that park themselves,” Hausmann continues, “ we can certainly improve the fatality rate and the severity of injuries caused by automobile accidents.”

If you believe you were seriously injured due to the mechanical failure or design defect of your vehicle, or another person’s vehicle, call Hausmann-McNally at 800-227-6699.

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