Seat Backs and Their Role in Vehicle Safety

Properly functioning seat backs, in addition to seat belts, ensure that occupants remain positioned upright in their seat during the impact of a crash, along with providing the passenger with back support and comfort.

Seat Back Collapses in Rear Impact Accidents

Rear impact collisions at speeds as low as 12 mph can, however, cause some seat backs to collapse if the seat back has a faulty design. When seat backs collapse, occupants can be ejected, which may cause trauma to the head or neck. Or, as a result of the collapse, they can suffer serious spinal cord injuries from impact with rear seat backs or cargo.

Smartmotorist.com cited one study of 23 rear impact crashes involving front seat back collapses. This study showed that in rear impact accidents, front seat passengers are either partially or totally ejected from their seat during impact in a majority of seat back collapse incidents.

Seat Back Collapse Lawsuits

A significant precedent was set for recovery of damages for injuries caused by seat back collapses when in 2004 a jury entered a $105.5 million verdict against DiamlerChrysler in the suit of Flax v. DiamlerChrysler.

The case involved an alleged faulty minivan seat back, that the jury found caused the death of an infant in 2001. The 8 month-old passenger was killed when his mother was ejected from her seat during a crash due to a seat back collapse, which caused her to fatally strike her child, who was in a car seat behind her.

In March 2005, a jury awarded $27 million to Connie Mikolajczyk for the death of her husband, James, who was killed in February 2000 when the 1996 Ford Escort he was driving was rear-ended and his seat collapsed backward, hurling him into the rear of the car's cabin and fatally injuring him. The jury found Ford and Mazda, who together designed the Escort model, as well as the driver that allegedly caused the accident, mutually liable for his death.

In February 2005, a Cumberland County, Tennessee jury found Ford liable and awarded $7 million to Betty Potter. Potter claimed that the seat in her Ford Explorer collapsed during a crash, shooting her into the backseat, severing her spinal cord and leaving her a paraplegic. In April 2005, the Tennessee appellate court upheld the jury verdict.

In November 2003, a Maricopa County, Arizona jury awarded Minnie Mae Douglas $53.3 million in a suit against DaimlerChrysler. Douglas was rendered quadriplegic after an accident in 1999 in which the driver seat recliner bracket of her Dodge Ram pickup broke, causing her to eject backwards out of her seat and strike her head on the cab roof. The case centered on structural weaknesses in the BR/T-300 outer recliner bracket that exists in 1995, 1996 and 1997 Dodge Ram extended cab models.

It is believed that through confidential settlements, manufacturers have concealed many other instances of defective seat backs which collapsed and caused needless occupant injuries and deaths.

Seat and Car Accident Attorneys/Lawyers

If you have been injured, or a loved one has been killed, in an accident involving a collapsed seat back or other auto defect and would like to learn more about your legal rights, contact an attorney at Lieff Cabraser by clicking here. There is no charge or obligation for our review of your case.