Seatback Collapse

Car crashworthiness is a life and death concept. The widespread, decades-long failure of auto manufacturers to adhere to this concept has brought mortal injury or lifetime disability to millions upon millions of Americans. The flawed state of seat belt and seat back design and performance is one of the chief causes. Car crashes are foreseeable and often unavoidable. But whether caused by bad weather, inexperienced driving, defective vehicle components or any other condition, the creates themselves do not in many cases need to produce deadly injuries. Frequently, when serious injuries do result, it is because the companies that manufactured the cars failed or refused to make those cars adequately crashworthy.

Ricci~Leopold, P.A. have won many multi-million dollar verdicts and settlements on behalf of victims of poor seat back construction or seat belt design.

Seatback Strength Failures

Seat backs can fail under various circumstances, however, the ultimate cause of these failures is the rearward loading of the seat by the occupant's body mass. Some seats fail due to the relative acceleration of this mass during a collision, whereas others fail under the weight of the occupant while a vehicle is stationary or traveling at a constant velocity.

The two most common types of failure are the failure of the seat back support system to maintain an upright position and the deformation of the seat back frame itself. Less common are failures that have been attributed to deformation of the mounting system that holds the seat to the vehicle floor or to a collapse of the vehicle floor pan. Another problem is the detachment of non-integral head restraints during an accident.

When an automobile front seat fails in a rear-end collision causing the seat back to move suddenly rearward, three serious hazardous conditions can arise:

1. Loss of control, thus exposing occupants to otherwise avoidable multiple crashes;
2. Ejection rearward out of the failed seats, possibly through rear or side windows or doors;
3. Interior impacts, by being hurled into the rigid interior structures of the vehicle or, even worse, into other occupants who then also may be injured;
4. Blockage of exits, when the collapsed seat/seat back structures hinder egress for crash victims from the vehicle's doors - a horrendous defect when the fuel system has ruptured and the car is on fire.

Catastrophic results of seat back failure are brain damage, paraplegia, quadriplegia and death. Non-catastrophic injuries include many forms of painful and disabling upper spinal column and head trauma.

As a result of the inaction of both the federal government and most of the automotive industry, the consumer is being asked to drive in vehicles with inadequate, hazardous seats and seat backs. Because of the government's passive attitude toward safety related problems of seats and seat backs, automobile occupants are being injured or killed and consequently the only recourse is the tort system. By litigants pursuing rightful claims for safer seat and seat backs they will continue to bring pressure on callous and indifferent manufacturers and, hopefully, NHTSA to honor their responsibilities to provide restraint systems that are safe and to replace those that are not.

To reduce your risk of Seatback Failure:

1. Limit the amount of cargo your carry in your trunk and don’t carry it longer than necessary.
2. Push the cargo as close to the back seat as possible and evenly distribute the load.
3. When provided by your vehicle manufacturer – use their cargo restraints (nets) to secure cargo.

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