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Auto safety expert and Dallas car accident lawyer Todd Tracy warns car buyers not to purchased used cars that have been involved in car wrecks. The Tracy Law Firm’s Crash Lab has examined numerous preowned vehicles in which its clients received catastrophic injuries or were killed because the safety systems did not work properly due to the previous accident.
Transcript
Today I want to talk with you about the importance of your vehicle structure in the event of an accident. If you are in the market to buy a vehicle, and you find out that that vehicle has been involved in a prior accident, it is incumbent upon you to determine, was the structure damaged. Was the unibody damaged? Were the frame members damaged? Because if you can take a vehicle to an independent technician, have him put it on a rack to see if that vehicle has had a frame alignment or if there’s been any type of welding done to that frame, you need to run away from that vehicle.
Vehicle frames, vehicle unibodies, especially some of the car parts that vehicles are being made of today, such as aluminum, were not made to be straightened. And I will tell you this, if you’re involved in another auto accident after your vehicle structure has been involved in a prior car accident, your safety systems will not perform as designed because the vehicle structure will not perform as it was supposed to.
Vehicles are designed very specifically. That is so the structure of the vehicle crushes in a very controlled manner. We want it to crush in a very controlled manner so the restraint systems can allow the body to ride down the energy and spread out the energy and the load over as wide an area as possible. Why is that? Because we don’t want that big jolt of energy coming into our torso, coming into our head, coming into our lower body. We want to take that load, and that energy, and spread it over the car, under the car, and around the vehicle.
Once your vehicle structure has been repaired, the vehicle cannot absorb and distribute and channel energy the way it was designed to.
If you find out that your vehicle that you are intending to purchase is a pre-owned vehicle, even though it’s labelled a quality pre-owned vehicle, you need to run and look for another vehicle, and do not buy that vehicle.
If you, a family member, or friend has suffered a catastrophic car accident injury or they were killed in an auto accident, there may be grounds to file a product liability lawsuit or a personal injury lawsuit against the car maker. The victim of a catastrophic injury or the family members of the deceased person may be entitled to significantly more money in damages than just a negligence case about the cause of the accident.
The car accident lawyers at The Tracy Law Firm do not care who was at fault in the accident. We focus on what caused traumatic injury or death. For example, if a safety defect in the occupant protection system failed, you may be able to sue for pain and suffering, medical expenses, and loss of income.
Todd Tracy’s Vehicle Crashworthiness law practice is his professional calling to help make motor vehicles safer for families and especially for children. Please feel free to contact Todd to evaluate your case at no expense. You can reach Todd at 214-324-9000 or directly through this contact form.
