If your company sells, manufactures or designs a product, then you need to be aware of defective products and how that can affect you. Defective products can result in lawsuits because of product liability.
The Legal Information Institute describes product liability as the responsibility for all parties involved in the design and manufacture of a product that causes damage.
A defective product may have marketing defects, manufacturing defects or design defects.
Defects in marketing
After the product goes through manufacturing the retailer sells it. If it is safe prior to this point, you may think that it must be safe. However, marketing defects refer to package and sales. For example, if your product does not have proper warnings, a consumer could harm him or herself.
Defects in manufacturing
When the product design reaches the manufacturer, there is a lot that can go wrong. If something goes wrong during the creation of a product, it could leave the items unusable and at worse, it could make them dangerous. One of the most dangerous manufacturing defects occurs with car part manufacturers. For example, problems with a tire could lead to accidents.
Defects in design
For there to be a defect in the design, it means that no matter what the manufacturer does in product creation, the product will always pose a risk to consumers. In the investigation of product liability, if every other step of the process checks out, odds are there might be a problem with the design.
Defective products are not only unusable but some can lead to dangerous situations.