ud.
According to legal statistics, the most common form of fraud within the new vehicle industry is that of defective design (OLM, 18). Thousands of individuals are injured or killed each year due to known defects in automobile design, including such issues as faulty airbags, door latches, brakes, fuel tanks, and rollover tendencies (OLM, 19). Some estimates show the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issues over 30 million vehicle recalls each year, and these recalls are a small portion of the faulty design flaws realized (McDonald, 175). Since manufactures often weigh the costs of such recalls with the probability of damages awarded in a lawsuit resulting from injury due to the defect, only those defaults which may result in extremely high legal costs are completed (McDonald, 179).
One of the most famous vehicle design flaw cases is Grimshaw v. Ford Motor Company, occurring in 1972. Grimshaw and her son were traveling in a 1972 Pinto, when they were struck by another vehicle. The Pinto exploded on impact, and in the resulting lawsuit, Ford admitted to having knowledge of a design flaw that could cause such an explosion. However, under legal guidelines, Ford weighed the costs of recalling the vehicle, estimated at nearly $137
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