If your suspension breaks and you cause an accident, are you at fault?

[GeoffM]

Title sums it. Michigan

[mtnbikaah]

not if it's OEM spec unless it "wouldn't pass inspection."

IMO, don't know for sure.

[jerry92accord]

yea think u are........Did dat happen to u?

[GeoffM]

It's Michigan, no inspection. I'm talking blatantly ignoring something like ball joints or tie rods until they snap at 80.
Nope, I took it to a dealership and they told me they were bad. Did drive on them for 6000 miles though.

[mtnbikaah]

if you know something that is wrong mechanically with your car that caused an accident I'd say you would be at fault.

how would they prove that you knew something was wrong, I don't know.

[evil_demon_01]

if you know something that is wrong mechanically with your car that caused an accident I'd say you would be at fault.

how would they prove that you knew something was wrong, I don't know.

I'd agree with that.
If the investigators did enough looking around they could find this:

I took it to a dealership and they told me they were bad. Did drive on them for 6000 miles though.

Then they could potentially blame it on you.

[Ghetto_CB7]

Manufacturer fault

If you hit someone and it was not the fault of the manufacturer of the vehicle/part it is your fault.

Aka if you have a brand new car, drive it off the lot, the rack and pinion sticks and you hit a bmw, the dealer is at fault.

If you drive a 20 year old car and your 20 year old front ball joint comes apart and you cannot steer your car, your fault.

If you 120,000 mile tires blow out and you hit something, your fault. I think common sense pretty much answered the question.

[Ralphie]

[Accrdwgnguy]

no inspection states scare me. If there wasn't someone telling an average person something was wrong with the car and it needed to be corrected or you couldnt legally drive it, most people wouldn't notice or wouldnt fix until it broke and caused an accident. Scary.

[casterX]

it IS the drivers responsibility to always check the roadworthiness of the car being driven..

[Leung]

when my brakes on the Dakota locked up and i slid into a parked car of an "s" turn, it was my fault. I was cited for losing control of a motor vehicle.

[TheFirstNutZo]

Uhh..... Last time I checked, Michigan is a no fault state....


In this state however, I do believe you would be at fault. It is your responsibility to keep everything in properly working order, and I think the onus would be on YOU to prove that it somehow was not your fault that the balljoints failed since YOU were the one crashing the car into someone.

Take all of those unintended acceleration cases. They were at fault for the accident, then had to turn around and sue Toyota for damages to recoup their costs from the wrecks.

Now, there is a difference between being at fault in an accident and being held liable for reckless endangerment or something similar as a result of your egregious negligence. There is a big difference between accidentally hitting someone, and intentionally driving an unsafe vehicle KNOWING it is unsafe and hurting other people on the road.

Better yet, keep your car properly maintained and don't drive 6,000 miles on a trashed suspension. That is ASKING for problems and is incredibly unsafe and dangerous to the other drivers on the road.

[GeoffM]

Its not as bad as it seems. Yes there are some people who refuse to acknowledge problems but its not like you see daily accidents due to car failing. (Not Honda's anyway) But inspection would be nice, bc the mechanic I take my car to told me not to worry about it. (Family friend, doesn't charge, can't complain)

Michigan IS a no fault state. Not sure what that means though. I was worried about it, but until the noise got really bad everybody told me to just quit bitching. I also was checking the joints to see if they had anymore play. They weren't actually that bad when he replaced them.

That's part of the reason why I joined this site, so that way when the mechanics tell me to ignore it, I can come ask everyone here! Btw, I also drove on a bad wheel bearing for 4k miles. Thought it was the muffler.

[MikeW]

If your 120,000 mile tires

Who goes this long on one set of tires?!?

Michigan IS a no fault state. Not sure what that means though.

Wait, what?

[GeoffM]

People tell me it's a no fault state. I don't know what that means though.

Edit: I keep trying to make a thread asking if a trade shocks for a blackberry is a good idea. But I think it keeps getting deleted. How can I tell?