Litigating Equipment Failures in Trucking Cases: The Blurring of Negligence and Products Liability

Description

Operator negligence and the truck owner's negligent maintenance are traditionally the basis of most trucking accident cases. Increasingly, trucking fleets are using autonomous and semi-autonomous anti-collision systems composed of software, sensors, and hardware that will theoretically react faster than human drivers. These systems include automatic braking systems to avoid rear-end collisions, radar systems to detect lane departures, and camera systems to increase the driver's field of vision.

Design and warning defects are inevitable as these systems are not dependable and do not always make operating a large commercial vehicle safer. Unnecessary emergency braking plagues many vehicles, radar systems may not work with safety bumpers, and some systems cannot detect pedestrians who aren't moving.

When drivers relied on systems that failed, manufacturers may attempt to avoid responsibility by blaming the trucking company, the driver, and victims. Operating manuals point to the "attentive driver" as key to safety but market the system as reliable. Manufacturers may also assert that software is not a tangible "product." Still, manufacturers have a duty to provide instructions for the safe use of systems and what may happen if a system is not used as directed, either of which may require direction about manually overriding systems.

Listen as the panel explores claims for design defects and defective warning, breach of warranties and representations, and defeating product liability defenses raised by manufacturers selling their products as dependable and safe.