Los Angeles Automotive Product Liability Attorney
Request Free ConsultationWhen a defective vehicle, tire, or auto component causes catastrophic injury or death, the manufacturer must be held accountable. At Panish | Shea | Ravipudi LLP, our skilled Los Angeles car accident lawyers have spent more than 30 years fighting — and defeating — the world’s largest automakers and tire manufacturers on behalf of seriously injured clients and their families.
Our client, a family severely burned after their Chevy Malibu’s fuel tank ignited on impact, received a $4.9 billion verdict against General Motors, the largest product liability judgment in American judicial history. That result reflects the dedication, skill, and resources we bring to every automotive defect case we handle.
PSBR’s Pioneering Trial Approach
Our dedicated automotive legal team does not simply present evidence — we recreate disasters. We reenact truck accidents, rollovers of multi-passenger vans, SUVs, and cars so that juries can see, in real terms, how a better design could have prevented a client’s paralysis, brain damage, or wrongful death.
During the trial, we simulate crashes using life-sized models and failed tire components to show precisely how manufacturers could produce safer vehicles but choose not to. Our courtroom demonstrations expose why seat belts and airbags malfunction — and why those failures are never accidents.
We locate leading automotive engineers and industry whistleblowers who help us document negligence in the design of explosive fuel tanks, defective braking systems, and dangerously flawed restraint systems. Presenting persuasive, firsthand evidence of corporate wrongdoing is demanding work — but it produces results that other approaches simply cannot match.
Our Los Angeles Automotive Product Liability Lawyers Are Here To Help
The Financial Strength to Go the Distance
Most plaintiffs’ firms cannot afford the specialized digital evidence that automotive product liability cases demand. We can.
After three decades of defeating Ford, Honda, Toyota, General Motors, Mercedes-Benz, Chrysler, Goodrich, Goodyear, Continental, Pirelli, and Michelin, we have built the financial and intellectual resources to fund complex cases from start to finish. Our previous victories underwrite our current ones, and as contingency-fee attorneys, our clients never bear upfront costs or risk. We only recover fees if we recover compensation for you. To referring attorneys, we pay the highest referral fee permissible by law.
Recognition For Our Hard Work
Automotive Product Liability: What We Handle
Defective Tires
Tire defects are among the most dangerous — and preventable — failures on the road. Manufacturing errors, substandard materials, and dangerous tread designs have caused countless serious accidents. But the manufacturer is not always the only responsible party. If an auto shop installed old tires misrepresented as new, or used the wrong tires for a vehicle, they too may be liable for resulting injuries.
Our tire defect attorneys have secured tens of millions of dollars for clients injured in tread-separation and blowout crashes.
Seat Belt Defects
A properly functioning seat belt reduces the risk of crash injury by up to 50%, according to the CDC. When a manufacturing defect undermines that protection, the consequences are life-altering. Common seat belt failure modes include:
- Latch unlatching: Excessive force during a collision or sudden stop causes the latch to release, leaving occupants completely unrestrained.
- Retractor failure: The retractor loses tension, allowing the wearer to lurch forward and strike the vehicle interior.
- Defective design: Door-mounted or lap-only seat belts that are structurally prone to failure in a crash.
Seat Belt Submarining
Submarining occurs when an occupant slides beneath the lap portion of their seat belt during a sudden deceleration — the result of a poorly designed seat cushion, inadequate belt geometry, or both. The phenomenon is especially dangerous for pregnant women, whose anatomy was never accounted for in standard seat belt design. Injuries can include severe abdominal trauma, spinal damage, and fetal harm.
Defective Airbags
Airbags save thousands of lives every year — until a defect causes them to fail, deploy incompletely, or discharge metal shrapnel into the cabin. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration documented more than 284 airbag-related deaths in low-speed crashes between 1990 and 2007. Many more victims have sustained injuries ranging from chemical burns to permanent brain damage.
A common cause of defective airbag injuries is the use of counterfeit replacement parts by repair shops seeking to cut costs. When that choice injures a vehicle occupant, both the parts supplier and the shop may be liable alongside the original manufacturer.
Other Automotive Product Defects We Handle
- Roof Crush
- Fuel System Defects
- Sudden Unintended Acceleration
- Braking System Failure
- Vehicle Fires
- ATV Rollovers
Auto Product Liability Verdicts & Settlements
- Anderson v. General Motors — $4,907,632,000
- Lampe v. Continental General Tire — $55,600,000
- Barber v. Mossy Ford — $22,765,864
- Does v. Ford — $14,500,000
- Avesar v. Ford Motor Company — $6,000,000
- Galvan v. Auto Manufacturer — $3,000,000
- Does v. General Motors — $3,000,000
- Does v. Nissan — $3,000,000
- Colmenares v. Doe — $2,750,000
- Mendoza v. Ford — $2,600,000
- Does v. Ford — $2,100,000
- Luu v. Doe Corporation — $2,000,000
- Doe v. Auto Manufacturer — $2,000,000
How Can We Help You?
If you or a loved one has been seriously injured — or killed — due to a defective vehicle or auto part, our attorneys are ready to evaluate your case. Consultations are free, confidential, and carry no obligation. Call us at (310) 477-1700 or submit a case inquiry online. We respond promptly, and you pay nothing unless we win.