Louisiana residents who drive an older vehicle may have good reasons for doing so. After all, a car could last some 15 years and sometimes run for up to 300,000 miles, and many people don’t have the money to spend on buying a new car. New cars are expensive to maintain, too, and something as minor as a fender bender may wind up costing owners thousands of dollars to replace cameras and sensors.
There is a problem, though, and it’s that owners of older vehicles may ignore routine maintenance and cause a crash because of defective equipment in their vehicle. Recently, the Ohio Highway Patrol made an analysis of the defect-related crashes that had occurred in Ohio in the past three years and found that 56% were caused by model-year 1999-2008 vehicles. The model year 2009-2018 vehicles were behind 24% of these crashes.
The most common causes of these crashes were tire blowouts and brake failure. Blown tires were to blame for 42% of those defect-related crashes that ended in a fatality. This clearly shows that drivers are neglecting to replace their tires, check their brakes and perform other maintenance tasks.
Defective vehicle parts can lead to a crash and, consequently, a personal injury claim. Those who are injured because a driver had not maintained his or her vehicle may file a claim against that driver’s insurance company and seek reimbursement for vehicle damage, medical expenses, pain and suffering and other losses. A lawyer may evaluate their case and determine how much they might be eligible for under Louisiana’s comparative negligence law. Victims may have their lawyer handle all settlement negotiations.