Defective seat backs can cause serious injury to vehicle accidents. Particularly vulnerable to rear collisions, the front seat backrests can collapse, causing injury to passengers in the front and rear seats. When the seats fall backwards, leaving passengers inclined, passengers can slide out from under the seat belt towards the rear of the vehicle or be completely ejected from the car.
Of course, if a driver is thrown into a prone position, it makes it almost impossible for that driver to regain control of the car and prevent him from moving in on-going traffic or towards a cliff, tree or another hazard.
Why do places fail? Backrest malfunction can be the result of improper design, manufacturing errors or installation errors. Often, the fault lies with weak materials. Bolts and other hardware components may break or the seat frames may buckle. The impact can tear them off the vehicle floor.
In a case that caught the attention of auto manufacturers and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a woman was burned to death when she got trapped in the back seat under the collapsed front seat and the car caught fire.
Failure of children's backs and front seats
Children in the back seat are particularly vulnerable to injury if the front seat falls over it. These seat failures were of great concern to parents who were told to avoid allowing children to drive in the front seat due to the danger of an airbag. An article published by the NHTSA in 1997 addressed this problem, stating: "It may be important to evaluate the injuries caused by the interaction of the occupants of the front and rear seats due to the collapse of the front seat. This is especially true with the increased emphasis of the positioning children in the rear seats ".
Some experts say that the risk to children can be reduced by placing their seats behind the front passenger seat and driving without anyone in that front seat. The seat does not have the same probability of falling backwards if the weight of a passenger does not put pressure on it. Obviously, this is inconvenient for families travelling together. If there is a rear centre seat, it can also be safer than driving behind a rear seat, especially if the rear centre seat includes a shoulder belt.
The dispute over backrest safety rules
Some attorneys and consumer organizations have claimed that manufacturers have discreetly resolved product liability lawsuits related to the backrest to prevent defective seat problems from becoming known. According to some, the safety requirements regarding the resistance of the seatbacks are still not strict enough.
Automobile manufacturers
An argument raised by automobile manufacturers is that too rigid seats can contribute to whiplash. Nonetheless, research appears to demonstrate that the risk of whiplash injury is not as serious as that of catastrophic injury or death for front and rear-seat passengers when the rear seat collapses. In addition, a study conducted in Sweden in the 1990s showed that stronger seats could still prevent whiplash, as long as the seat padding and headrests were sufficient and properly made.
Car manufacturers
Even if it collapses, it can be difficult to prove that the injuries were caused by that collapse. Car manufacturers almost always claim that the collision itself was the only fault. Some law firms specialize in these types of liability cases on automotive products and have particular expertise in prosecuting them. I am also aware of industry experts who are able to evaluate whether a collapse of the backrest has contributed to the injuries or deaths involved.