The Supreme Court recently ruled in a lawsuit involving federal vehicle safety regulations, deciding that existing laws do not shield automakers that install lap-only seat belts in lieu of shoulder-and-lap belts in automobiles from lawsuits.

The unanimous decision allows the plaintiffs to proceed with a pending lawsuit filed against Mazda Motor Corp. The lawsuit stems from a 2002 fatal car accident. The family of the victim alleges that a lap-only belt installed in the rear passenger seat led to the victim's death.

Legal experts expect the new ruling to lead to more lawsuits against vehicle manufacturers that install lap-only belts, and that it will reduce the impact of an older Supreme Court ruling that protected automakers from lawsuits related to the absence of airbags.

Several state courts previously threw out lawsuits pertaining to lap-only seat belts, stating that the lawsuits were preempted by federal laws on the subject. Since that time, industry-wide seat belt regulations have been modified, and any vehicle manufactured after September 2007 must have shoulder-and-lap belts installed in all forward-facing rear seats. However, U.S. highways are still populated by potentially millions of vehicles with lap-only seat belts.

The Obama administration supported the plaintiffs in the Mazda case before the new Supreme Court ruling became official. The plaintiffs' lawyer stated that the new ruling will help to correct a widespread misreading of the airbag ruling. Many courts had thrown out lawsuits involving a wide range of unsafe products simply because the federal safety regulations had established minimum safety standards for the products.

This Supreme Court ruling brings a common sense approach back to cases involving defective products. Previously, manufacturers who abided by the minimum safety guidelines established by the government felt as though they were shielded from responsibility for injuries caused by unsafe products. Manufacturers will now realize that safety regulations only represent the bare minimum of what they have to do to protect consumers. They will now have the incentive to make their products even safer.

Source: Fox Business, "US Supreme Court Clears Way For Seat Belt Lawsuits," Brent Kendall, 2/23/2011