SEAT BELT INJURY & DEATH LAWSUITS
 During a collision, the vehicle and its occupants are subject to potentially destructive forces. A crashworthy designed vehicle, seatbelts and other safety systems help to minimize the destructive effect of these forces by distributing them over as great a period of time as possible, over as large a surface area as possible and to parts of the body that are more capable of withstanding such forces.Crashworthiness cases typically involve the failure to one or more components to meet these basic design objectives. Seat belts perform a central role in occupant protection. Properly designed seatbelts should restrain the occupant by preventing ejection, provide a controlled slow down (ride down) of the energy and minimizing the occupant's violent movement within the vehicle during the crash. Unquestionably, seatbelts have saved thousands of lives. With the introduction of mandatory usage laws, many more Americans are now wearing seatbelts compared to prior decades. As a consequence of more frequent usage, the numbers of seat belt injuries & deaths from defective seatbelts have become more apparent as well. The most common of these defects include the following:
INERTIAL UNLATCHING
Over 100 million cars in America have seatbelts with the release button on the front face of the buckle. In some frontal collisions, rollovers and side impacts, the release mechanism can be inertially disengaged when the back of the buckle hits part of the seat structure or of the human body. Manufacturers are reluctant to admit the existence of this defect. However, in Malone v. General Motors, crash tests videos were introduced into evidence which demonstrated seatbelt unlatching in internal tests conducted by General Motors.
In recent years, there have been several landmark cases against American and Japanese manufacturers for this defect. During the wreck/impact many types of seat belt buckles can inertially release and come open, subjecting the occupants to untold dangers. This inertial release happens as a result of inertia force or energy being applied to the back of the buckle in the form of the forward movement of the occupant into the buckle. When the inertial energy is transformed into the spring of the buckle, it releases the tension on the latch plate, allowing it to come open. When this happens, the occupant is then as if he wasn’t belted at all. Relatively low forces during a wreck can cause the button to depress, permitting the latch plate to be free.
INADVERTENT OR UNINTENTIONAL UNLATCHING -
"THE CHRYSLER GEN 3 SEATBELT BUCKLE DEFECT"
 GEN 3 Seatbelt Buckles are contained in 14 Million 1993-2002 Chrysler Vehicles. The GENERATION 3 Buckle appears to be defective and dangerous and should be recalled. On the Gen3 buckle, the release button is raised above the cover, which makes it prone to accidental release during collisions The Gen-3 buckle can inadvertently release in a crash from contact from an object, elbow, car seat, child carrier or other object during the crash. In some cases it may inadvertently release before the collision as well. The Gen3 buckle has certain design characteristics that set it apart from other buckles. Other buckles have a release button that is flush with the outside cover, which protects the buckles from accidental release or inadvertent actuation during a collision.
The Center for Auto Safety on (March 8, 2002)called on DaimlerChrysler to recall 14 million vehicles with Gen 3 seatbelt buckles that can inadvertently release in a crash due to a release button that protrudes too high and fails a simple safety test that other manufacturers' seatbelt buckles pass. The problem is that the release button can be hit by a an elbow, a child seat or other object in a crash and release.
 On May 23, 1995 it was announced that over eight million vehicles seat belt buckles were to be replaced or repaired under a voluntary safety recall campaign conducted by Honda, Mazda, Nissan, Mitsubishi, Daihatsu, Ford, Subaru, Suzuki, Izuzu, GM, General Motors, Geo, Chrysler, and U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA). The Takata seat belt buckles manufactured by Takata Corporation were used in nearly in all the FRONT seats and some BACK seats of nine million cars, trucks and sport utility vehicles (SUV) between 1986 and 1991. The investigation revealed that the Takata buckles' release buttons have broken or cracked rendering it in a dangerous condition. If the buckles' release button cracks or breaks off, then the buckle may false latch, inadvertently unlatch, fail under a load, partially unlatch , become inoperative and not latch at all.
REAR SEAT LAP ONLY BELT & CENTER SEAT LAP BELT ONLY BELTS
Lap-only seatbelts fails to restrain the upper torso. This can lead to fatal internal injuries, spinal damage, facial fractures, brain damage and death...The auto manufacturers have known of this defect for more than thirty years. In 1967 a Ford engineer wrote in a confidential memo:
"The three-point diagonal shoulder belt system has been demonstrated to offer much greater protection to the vehicle occupant than does a single lap belt alone, since it prevents injuries from jack knifing...Injuries...involving three-point systems would all have probably been much worse had the individuals been wearing...a lap belt only...Our conclusion...is that a properly worn, three-point belt system clearly protects the occupant better than a lap-only belt system."
The National Transportation Safety Board has also concluded that lap-only belts induce injury, ranging in severity from minor to fatal due to jack knifing. The evidence indicates that the auto industry knew about the lap-only belt defect for more than thirty years. However, the auto industry did not begin equipping vehicles with both front and rear shoulder belts until the late 1980s. As a result, many vehicles that are still on the road today contain defective lap-only seatbelts in the real and center seating positions.
EXCESSIVE SEAT BELT SLACK
Many of you may remember the "tension relieving" device or window shade which was incorporated into front seat restraints installed into many domestic vehicles in the 70s and 80s. While seated in a car fully belted, an occupant could intentionally introduce slack into the shoulder belt. Likewise, slack could be introduced into the shoulder harness inadvertently by ordinary movement of the upper torso associated with activities such as adjustment of the radio or climate control. When the shoulder belt was slack, one could tug slightly downward on the belt causing the retractor to activate and the belt to tighten up against the body. Unfortunately, most drivers and occupants did not realize that a loose belt is a grave hazard in a crash. Loose belts kill people by promoting ejection or severe submarining. Shoulder belt slack severely undercuts restraint system effectiveness and can result in severe head impacts with the car's interior structure including steering wheels, windshields or the windshield header.
SHOULDER BELT - SPOOL OUT INJURIES
Seatbelts designed to lock when the vehicle experiences a certain level of deceleration, such as that associated with a crash. If the seatbelt doesn't lock up properly, then there may be a problem with the seatbelt retractor. Certain designs can attribute to a phenomenon known as "skip lock" in which the belt locks up late in the accident sequence or entirely fails to lock. These defects cause excessive seatbelt slack and lead to severe head and spinal injuries.
DOOR MOUNTED AUTOMATIC BELTS
As early as the 1950’s the auto industry tested airbags and found them superior to automatic belts of that period as a result of their inferior performance; automatic belts were not seriously pursued until the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) took steps in 1969 to require airbags to all motor vehicles. The industry immediately switches gears and argued against airbags. This switch contradicted market studies by the manufacturers that showed consumers preferred airbags to automatic belts. Automatic belts were a cheaper form of passive restraints rather than an airbag. Simple automatic belt systems cost $50-$200 less than airbag systems.The first to sell automatic seat belts was Volkswagen, with the 1975 VW Rabbit, which had a door-mounted automatic shoulder belt (BUT NO LAP BELT). Immediately the injuries began. Upon front impact, the occupant’s torso slipped under belt, but the head and necks catches on the shoulder belt, essentially “clothlining” the occupant, causing broken necks, spinal cord injuries and death. Unfortunately, some automakers, including Hyundai, continued to equip vehicles with shoulder only belts up through 1989 with the Hyundai Excel. Later many automakers included a manual lap belt with the automatic shoulder belt.The problem with this “improvement” was most consumers forgot to wear the manual lap belt and while some didn’t even know there vehicles had them. The injuries to the occupants continued, as more and more of the automatic shoulder belts with no lap belts, began to appear in many of the late 1970’s and into the 1990’s. In the 1980s some manufacturers introduced belt systems in which the belts were mounted to the structure of the door or the door frame. This design is dangerous because it adversely effects the geometry of the restraint system and it increases the potential for ejection in the event of an unintentional door opening. In other words, if the belt is connected to the door and the door opens in a crash then the occupant is effectively left unrestrained and subject to the perils associated with ejection.
SEATBACK FAILURES & DEFECTS
 Each year about 1,200 people die in rear-end accidents and many thousands more are seriously injured. A large number of these deaths and injuries are caused by partial or total failure of the seat back system that should be protecting occupants in rear-end impacts. The seat back is a critical aspect of the restraint system during a rear impact. During a rear-impact the vehicle moves forward while the weight of the occupant is pressed against the seat back. The seat back restricts rearward motion in a rear-end crash. If a seat back stays in place and remains upright it should restrict the rearward motion of the occupant in a crash. However, if the seat back collapses in the crash, the front seat occupant can ramp backwards striking his head against the roof, the back seat or even get ejected out the rear window.
SEAT BELT LAWSUIT- SEAT BELT INJURIES & DEATHS
 If you or a family member have been seriously injured or a loved one killed as a result of a dangerous or defective seat belt or any automotive defect in a wreck or rollover, then call and talk to us now. Willis Law Firm is very familiar with these problems and has previously battled with many of the auto and seat belt manufacturers concerning defective seat belts, automatic belts, lap belts and other safety, defect & design issues. Call and get a Free Confidential Consultation from a Board Certified Personal Injury Trial Lawyer with over 22+ years of experience. Call Toll Free 1-800-883-9858 or fill out this Seatbelt Lawsuit Case Evaluation Form.
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PLEASE NOTE: The statements and information provided on this web site are for the informational purposes only. This law firm is not affiliated in any way with any trademark owner. The use of any trademarks on this site is for product identification and information purposes only. This webpage is provided to you to assist in information about seat belt injuries, seatbelt deaths, seat belt defects, rear seat or center seat lap only belt injury, lawsuits, seat belt buckle failure, buckle opening, NHTSA recall, torn webbing, seat belt recalls, seatbelt retractors, plastic buckle housing defects, problems with the tall end release buttons on the Generation 3 or Gen 3 seat belt buckle button on some Chrysler vehicles, lap belt injury, excessive slack in belt webbing, automatic belt injuries,and other seat belt defects and failures.This site is not intended to provide legal advice to the reader and NO attorney-client relationship shall be deemed to arise from the receipt this page and/or its associated pages or any oral or e-mail communication to or from with the Willis Law Firm. There will be NO lawsuits filed, claims made, letters or phone calls made for a prospective client, until that person is represented by the firm. An attorney client relationship only arises after the attorney and client have signed a written attorney client contract.
Mr. Willis is licensed attorney in New York and Texas. He is a Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Lawyer, certified by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization. Read more about Board Certification, Click Here. Principle office is Houston, Texas.
Mr. Willis has represented clients in personal injury, auto accident, seat belt defects, suv rollover, van & truck rollovers and other product liability and negligence cases from across the United States, including clients from Alabama, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, North Carolina, Nebraska, New Jersey, New Mexico, Nevada, New York, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Virginia, Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin & West Virginia.
Further, any statement or reference to past personal injury, products liability or other lawsuits, settlements or verdicts should NOT be relied upon in one's own case or in your decision on which law firm to hire. All client's cases, facts, injuries, damages, venues and lawsuits are different and there is NO way to predict the outcome of a particular case, verdict of a jury or judge or the strength of a case before a judge, jury or the appellate court system. The client is responsible for all of their own medical expenses. All cases are handled on a contingent fee basis. NO attorneys fees or case costs charged to client, unless a recovery is made for the client. Often in very serious and catastrophic injury and death cases Mr. Willis may associate with another products liability attorney as co-counsel and in other matters, the case may be referred. In cases where a legal matter is referred, Mr. Willis will continue to maintain joint responsibility with the handling attorney or lead counsel and actively monitor the progress and development of the case. Due to his 22+ years of experience in personal injury and products liability cases, Mr. Willis will often continue to assist in working with the hired experts and engineers and in research of the defective product or other related legal matters in the case.
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