Effect of Recall Campaigns on Automotive Products Liability Cases

The basic elements of proof that a plaintiff has to establish in a products liability action against a manufacturer or seller of a motor vehicle are that the vehicle as sold contained a defect that created an unreasonable risk of death, personal injury, or property damage when the vehicle was used for its intended purpose and that the defect caused an accident or similar incident, such as a vehicle fire, that resulted in the damage or loss for which the plaintiff seeks to recover damages. Vehicle defects for purposes of establishing liability in such a case include shortcomings in the design of a vehicle, errors in the manufacture of its component parts or in their assembly into a complete car or truck, and failure to warn the purchaser or operator of risks inherent in the use and operation of the vehicle. Safety-related recall campaigns covering a vehicle involved in such an action can have an effect on the outcome of the dispute between the parties.

Safety-related recalls of motor vehicles are conducted under the authority of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, popularly known as NHTSA, an agency of the United States Department of Transportation. Recall campaigns can be based either on noncompliance with one or more of the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards, or FMVSS, a body of safety-related regulations enacted by NHTSA with which every new motor vehicle sold in the United States has to comply, or on the existence of what is called a safety-related defect in a group of vehicles. (The term "defect" in the context of recall campaigns is not meant to be identical in meaning or coextensive with that term as it is used in products liability cases.) Recalls can be voluntarily undertaken by a manufacturer if it determines that a group of vehicles produced by it contain an FMVSS noncompliance or a safety-related defect, or else may be ordered by NHTSA on the basis of the agency's investigation of the alleged noncompliance or safety-related defect. In either of these situations, the fact that a recall campaign has been conducted on a vehicle involved in a products liability action will often be used as evidence that the vehicle as sold contained a defect for products liability purposes. In addition, evidence accumulated during recall-related investigations by manufacturers and NHTSA will often be made use of as evidence in products liability actions.

The law of products liability in the United States, including automotive products liability law, has evolved over more than half a century out of the separate legal systems of the individual states rather than out of a single unified body of federal law. As a result, the legal standards governing the effects of recall campaigns on automotive products liability actions will vary from state to state.