Car Accident Attorneys in Lawrence, NJ
With its rich colonial history, the township of Lawrence welcomes travelers passing through as it is sandwiched between Philadelphia and New York, intersecting at the Delaware Valley region up north and the Raritan Valley south. As such, major thoroughfares intersect the township, such as several interstate highways, historic canals, and Amtrak’s northeast corridor that traverses landmark railway lines.
Situated in Mercer County, Lawrence boasts The Lawrenceville School, a nationally renowned boarding school in this now suburban township, having shed its rural roots, where one can find Rider University, Educational Testing Service, and Bristol-Myers Squibb serving its diverse population of 32,688. You can take a trolley down historic sections of town, visit the 1761 Brearley House for a taste of rural colonial life, enjoy the Delaware and Raritan Canal State Park for a breathtaking 70-mile visit through nature and history, or shop at Quaker Bridge Mall when you visit Lawrence.
And should you need medical care, Lawrence Rehabilitation Hospital and Princeton Healthcare System are available to help you in Lawrence. So, when traveling US 1 or 206 through Lawrence to get to New York or Philadelphia, you may need medical attention after an accident. After all, of New Jersey’s 646 vehicle accidents, Mercer County had 26 in 2022 alone.
Crashes happen when one driver is careless and causes another to crash, but sometimes the cause is a defective vehicle part. For example, a brake failure may cause someone to rear-end another car or hit a wall or center divider on the highway, and defective airbags may make injuries worse when they do not deploy to minimize life-threatening injuries to a driver or passenger. Auto defect accidents are especially troublesome because no matter how safe you are in operating your vehicle, you still suffer personal and property damage from an accident, even loss of life.
Contact the renowned motor vehicle accident lawyers at Cohen & Riechelson for a free initial consultation regarding your auto accident if you consider a defective part, another driver, or another negligent party may be the cause of your injuries. Our Lawrence Township legal team will work on your claim to seek compensation for your injuries in Slackwood, Port Mercer, Colonial Lakelands, Princessville, and nearby towns in Lawrenceville. Do not hesitate to contact us at (609) 528-2596 to get in touch with a member of our team who will review your case free of charge.
How Defective Parts Contribute to Lawrenceville Auto Accidents
Many defects put lives at risk, such as defective seatbelts, seatbacks, cruise control, airbags, and structures designed to protect you. Worse yet, transmissions, steering wheels, and fuel tanks fail, causing explosions, fires, and collisions. Tire manufacturers may cause high-speed blowouts that cause severe injuries, as do defective roofs when cars roll, and the car top crushes on occupants.
Blowouts, fires, and explosions contribute to fatalities as vehicles careen off the road, hit other cars, roll-off embankments, or collide with structures along the roadways, such as walls, trees, and center dividers. Defective accelerators cause high-speed rear-end accidents, as do transmission and brake defects. Sideswipes and T-bone accidents occur when steering wheel or cruise control mechanisms fail.
The two defect categories that cause accidents are design and manufacturing defects. The former is typically the source of recalls when a flawed design causes accidents in a specific car make and model after its release to the market. The manufacturing defect is in the making, assembling, or shipping vehicles or their parts. While the design defect affects an entire product line, the manufacturing defect may affect fewer vehicles.
Variety of Injuries Arising from Auto Accidents in Lawrence Township NJ
Accident victims suffer various injuries, depending on the speed and vehicles or structures involved in the crash. They may suffer head, back, neck, and shoulder injuries or break bones. It is not unusual for accidents to cause concussions and other brain injuries. Other severe harms include spinal cord, internal organ, and burn injuries. Some people lose limbs or die. However, even minor crashes from auto defects can lead to long-term muscle and spinal injury that causes chronic pain, arthritis, and skeletal structure imbalances.
Untangling the Source of Liability in Lawrence Car Accidents Caused by Vehicle Defects
Despite government websites that track auto defects and accidents, most people are unaware of auto defects. They purchase their car from a reputable dealer, maintain their vehicles, and practice safety precautions, like wearing seatbelts and following the road rules. As such, they are unprepared for an auto defect accident. Even when drivers receive a recall notice, they may not be responsible for an accident due to a defect.
Car manufacturers or the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) often send out recall notices about defective vehicle parts or those noncompliant with the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard. Affected vehicles require a scheduled visit to a dealer for repairs. However, an accident may occur before their appointment, and manufacturers are still liable for placing a defective vehicle on the road. Besides, a manufacturer must prove that you received a recall notice.
The manufacturer may not be the only one responsible for your injuries when a car fails. Other parties may contribute to the accident, such as the mechanic who worked on your vehicle, the parts dealer who supplied the defective part, or the dealership or individual who sold the car to an innocent purchaser. When your accident results from a defect, you must identify the responsible party or parties by investigating your vehicle’s maker, servicers, and retailers. For this reason, accident injury victims turn to skilled personal injury attorneys to investigate and locate liable parties.
Filing a Claim for a Defective Auto Part-Related Accident in Lawrence
Whether the defective auto part is in your car or another vehicle, you may have a product liability claim for damages from a collision. Product liability lawsuits require proof that a vehicle defect existed during the crash while the driver was appropriately driving an unmodified or moderately modified vehicle. In other words, the driver is not responsible for causing the defect, but the defect caused the injuries arising from the resulting accident. You must also prove that your damages result from the accident injuries.
You can sue for a defective vehicle part even if the manufacturer notified you of a safety recall. A defendant in a product liability lawsuit may use a safety recall notice to prove that you contributed to your injuries and damages by not correcting the defect. However, they must prove you received a recall notice and that you were more than 50 percent liable for your injuries to deny you all compensation for your claim. Realistically, you must deduct the percentage of your contributory fault from your compensatory award. So, your award is reduced proportionally when you are 10 percent contributorily negligent in not heeding a recall notice.
Often, severe accidents leave no readily available evidence of auto part defects. Totaled cars and roadway cleanup often lose valuable evidence. However, statistical, anecdotal, and historical evidence may show the type of accident that occurs from specific defects. Accident reconstructionist specialists can analyze tire marks and positions of the vehicles to evaluate a crash cause, just as injuries may reveal the accident source.
Best Practices to Prevent Lawrence Township Car Accidents
Besides heeding recall notices, vehicle owners can avoid defective parts by maintaining their vehicles, scheduling regular maintenance like oil, filter, and fluid changes, and driving the way the vehicle’s design requires, for example, avoiding excessive speeds and slamming brakes. Avoiding running out of gas, using quality replacement parts, and responding to warning lights are other safe practices to prevent car defects. Taking precautions with your vehicle helps prevent auto defect accidents and counters potential challenges to your lawsuit.
Have a Lawrenceville Car Accident Lawyer Free Case Evaluation
At Cohen and Riechelson, our Lawrence Township car accident attorneys prepare our clients for counterclaims, such as ill-maintained and abused vehicles that a defendant can claim caused an accident. These types of defective part claims are complex enough without adding another layer of complication, so you want to ensure little ground exists for blaming driving or maintenance habits for your accident and resulting injuries. Beyond defective auto part accident cases, we handle all types of car accident claims that occur in Lawrence Township, New Jersey, including those caused by negligent drivers who speed, drive distracted, drive drunk, drive with lack of sleep, and recklessly navigate the roadways.
Speaking to our talented Lawrence auto accident lawyers, you can learn how manufacturers, dealers, retailers, mechanics, service departments, other drivers, and others along an accident’s causation chain may be liable for your damages. Contact a Lawrence Township personal injury attorney at our Mercer County office for a free consultation today by calling (609) 528-2596. We serve clients in Rosedale, Clarksville, Louisville, Bakersville, Sturwood Hamlet, Eldridge Park, and nearby towns.
