When Products Harm Product Liability Dvd Case Study

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Product Liability DVD Case Study Assignment 1 Part 1 My Verdict After having watched the “When Products Harm” DVD I believe both parties have to accept some blame. However I believe that Continental, the manufacturer of the “Astro 76” have to accept more of the blame in this case. Therefore I have chosen Verdict number 3 which is for Continental to cover all of Mrs McCrae’s Medical expenses and Rehab plus a monetary compensation of $10 million dollars. I intend to outline my four main reasons for giving this verdict below. Design and Development Defects I believe Continental used good Quality practice and conducted a series of Reliability tests on the product in question. However the company failed to follow up on a Design defect which was uncovered during a test. During Reliability testing a valve became jammed which led to fuel spilling and igniting. When this issue was raised at a top management meeting it was decided to attach a bolt-on guard which was removable. Also the company had 290,000 “Astro 76” products already in the market and failed to recall these to make the changes needed. Continental put Profit before safety in this instance. This was the Continental’s first in a series of mistakes which led to Mrs McCrae’s life changing injuries. Manufacturing Defects Once the Company became aware of the need to include a guard in the design of the product it failed to adequately attach the guard to the Astro 76. At the top management meeting two options were discussed. The first option was to bolt on a guard at a cost of $7.25, this would be removable. The second option was to weld on the guard at a cost of $37.50; this would be permanent and make it extremely difficult to remove. Continental chose the cheaper option which resulted in the guards being easily removed and hence led to the Accident in question. Warning Label Defects After issues regarding

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