Defect-related crashes more likely with cars made before 2009

On Behalf of | May 21, 2020 | Personal Injury

Vehicles made before 2009 are often the subject of car crashes. In the last three years, 56% of those car crashes in Ohio that involved defective equipment were caused by model year 1999-2008 vehicles. The Ohio Highway Patrol points out that model year 2009-2018 vehicles accounted for 24% of such crashes in the same period.

In 2002, the average age of all the vehicles on Ohio’s roads was 9.6 years. In 2020, it was 11.8. The Ohio Insurance Institute has given several explanations for this trend. A vehicle can last 15 years and go for 300,000 miles, and many owners with lower income are not going to be eager to purchase a new one.

Unfortunately, many owners neglect vehicle maintenance. For example, tires can be expensive, and many fail to replace them. It’s not surprising, then, that 42% of fatal defect-related crashes in Ohio are due to tire blowouts. Brake failure was another common factor.

It’s true that newer vehicles tend to be more expensive to maintain. Many come with cameras and sensors, and because of these, a bumper replacement may cost some $800 more than a replacement for an older vehicle.

Those who intend to file a personal injury claim in the wake of a car accident should know just how the other driver was negligent. If the driver had a defective part in his or her car, victims need to show that neglecting to repair or replace that part was an act of negligence. After all, some products can be defective without a driver’s knowledge. To see how strong of a case they have, victims may have a lawyer apply Ohio’s comparative negligence law to it.

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