Defective products cause thousands of injuries in the US every year, resulting in significant losses for the victims. Products liability law is a set of legal rules intended to help victims recover financially from the company that placed the defective product in the stream of commerce. A manufacturer or seller is responsible for delivering a safe product to the end user, and breach of this duty makes that entity liable for an injured victim’s damages. Under products liability law in Oklahoma, defective products typically fall into three categories.
 
Defective Design
 If the product flaw is based upon a mistake made by the creator when developing the item, it’s considered a design defect. The error applies to all products manufactured according to the foundational design and – because all products are manufactured exactly the same – all items in the entire lot are defective.

  • Example: When designing a product, the creator overlooks a mistake in the blueprint. The manufacturer follows the developer’s design, so all items manufactured from that design contain the error.

 
Manufacturing Defects
When the item deviates from the maker’s specifications for production, the flaw is a manufacturing defect. The design itself is sound, but somewhere along the manufacturing process, a mistake leads to the product being defective. Because the error only affects those items produced pursuant to the glitch, only one unit or lot of products contain the manufacturing defect. The remainder of the group is unaffected.

  • Example: Equipment used to manufacture a product fails, resulting in a defect that impacts the items produced that day. The items manufactured before the failure and after repairs are not affected.

 
Labeling and Failure to Warn
If a product labeling doesn’t include adequate warnings or instructions for use, the fault is considered an information defect. The product on its face doesn’t contain any flaws, but it’s defective because a consumer could use it in such a way that the otherwise safe item becomes a hazard.
Defective products pose dangers to consumers who are unable to detect the flaws until it’s too late. An item may contain different types of flaws, any of which can result in severe injury or even death. If a product defect has caused injuries, you do have options to seek compensation from various entities in the supply chain. The attorneys at the Law Offices of Robert R. Robles have years of experience representing clients injured by a defective product, so please contact us or call (405) 232-7980 to discuss your matter in more detail.