“No one knows when they are going to be in a crash,” says Major Dalton Reid of the Christiansburg, Virginia, police department—a municipal force that honors such car crash survivors. “The single most thing that anyone can do to protect themselves is to buckle up.” When defective seatbelts fail, however, passengers become powerless to obey the law and protect themselves.

Defective seatbelt injuries probably occur more often than is reported, due to the nature of the “crime.” Passenger car restraints can give way due to faulty design, manufacture, installation or maintenance. Proving a defective seatbelt resulted in additional car accident injuries means ruling out the normal wear and tear of aging material.

The Cause of Defective Seatbelt Injuries

If you’ve suffered personal injury due to a faulty seatbelt or seatbelt buckle, the cause may be either a bad or poorly maintained product. Defective seatbelt injuries occur when passengers are subjected to the force and recoil of a collision without the seatbelt holding them in place to absorb the shock of an impact.

Dangerous product design, quality or seatbelt installation may result in:

• Inertial unlatching
• False latching
• Faulty belt retractors
• Skip lock

The first two circumstances allow a lap belt or shoulder harness to come undone upon impact. The second two allow slack to accumulate in the webbing, raising the risk of interior physical impact following a car crash.

If you believe that your seatbelt failed during a car accident due to defective material or design, first attend to your immediate medical needs. Take pictures of your vehicle, at the accident scene, if possible.

Next, you should consult with a Virginia personal injury attorney that specializes in Virginia car accidents and defective products. It is important that the Virginia accident lawyer you choose to represent you has handled cases like yours and understands product liability issues such as defective seatbelts.