Design Liability Flashcards
What are the 5 main causes of error in design?
1) Insufficient knowledge
2) Underestimation of personal influences
3) Ignorance, carelessness, negligence
4) Forgetfulness
5) Relying upon others without sufficient control over them
How is failure avoided?
- Get the initial design/concepts correct
- Communicate
- Argue and Debate, give way if neccesary
- Admit mistakes and know when to abandon an idea
- Pay attention to details
- Think of the customers
- Test
What is Tort law?
Tort Law covers civil wrongs recognised as the basis for lawsuit. These wrongs result in injury or harm, and are intended to deter others from causing the same harm.
What is Product Liability
Product liability covers the responsibility of any party along the manufacturing chain of any harm-causing product, from the design and component suppliers, to the assembler, to the distributor.
What are the three primary liability-incurring defects?
- Design
- Manufacturing defects
- Defects in marketing (ie incorrect instructions)
What are the three primary law theories that apply to Product Liability?
- Strict Liability
- Negligence
- Breach of warranty
What is Strict Liability?
The defendant is liable if the product is shown to be defective and unreasonably dangerous, regardless of carefulness shown.
What is Negligence?
It is the claim that a manufacturer or designer did not take adequate precautions in manufacturing, inspection and guidelines/warnings.
The manufacturrer could be found negligent for:
- Carelessly designing or manufacturing the product.
- Being careless in inspections and tests of the product
- Selected component sources carelessly
What is Breach of Warranty?
The product does not perform as intended. It can be broken into two parts:
- Express warranty: Qualities actively sstates by the supplier
- Implied warranty: The fact that the product is offered for sale, covered under the Consumer Guarantees Act
What is the consumer guarantees act?
It is a broad-ranging act in NZ governing liability for defective consumer goods. The includes guarantees that goods:
- Are of acceptable quality
- Last for a reasonable amount of time
- Are fit for a particular purpose
- Comply with description and sample
- Where goods are first sold to a consumer in NZ, there is a guarantee that the manufacturer will ensure that repair facilities and spare parts are available for a reasonable time after sale.
What is the difference between Strict Liability and Negligence?
Strict liability refers to the real quality of the product in use, whereas Negligence is determined by behaviour and conduct.
What is Failure to Warn?
It is a further claim, based on inadequate indication of potential hazards.
What is the Fair Trading Act and its purpose?
The act aims to promote fair competition in the marketplace and ensures that consumers can always be confident of the accuracy of the information they recieve about goods.
The act also empowers the Government to impose product safety standards or lists of unsafe goods which it is an offence to contravene.
