Georgetown Brake Malfunction Car Accident Lawyers

When you get behind the wheel of a car, you fully expect the car’s brakes to function properly. Unfortunately, brakes can fail, causing serious and often tragic car accidents. Brakes are complex, multi-component systems that require consistent maintenance. All it takes is for one small part to fail for catastrophic consequences to result. Those consequences can include severe injuries, significant medical bills, weeks or months of physical therapy, lost wages from time off work, and countless hours of mental, emotional, and physical anguish. That’s on top of repairing or replacing a totaled car.

If you or a loved one have been involved in a car accident caused by brake malfunction, you may be wondering, why am I suffering the consequences of something that wasn’t my fault? If your actions didn’t contribute to the crash, you shouldn’t.

Car accidents are stressful enough without the prospect of a personal injury lawsuit. That’s why you should hire an experienced personal injury lawyer to fight for your interests. The Georgetown car accident attorneys from Evans Moore, LLC have helped many clients involved in car accidents with brake malfunctions pursue the financial compensation they deserve and need to get their life back on track. Call our office today at (843) 995-5000 for a free consultation.

How Are Brakes Supposed to Work?

You push the brake, and your car stops. It’s not magic, so how does it actually work? Most modern vehicles utilize a hydraulic braking system on all four wheels, with a combination of disc and drum brakes, all-disc brakes (pricier models), or all drum brakes (old or compact models).

When you press the brake pedal, that force pushes a piston in the master brake cylinder, which is filled with hydraulic fluid. Pressure then builds up in the cylinder, which pushes brake fluid through the hydraulic lines towards the brake assemblies at each wheel.

From here, depending on whether the wheel has disc or drum brakes, those respective components will act to stop the wheel. With disc brakes, the hydraulic fluid causes the brake caliper to squeeze the brake pads against the rotating disc, which is attached to the wheel. With drum brakes, the hydraulic fluid causes curved brake shoes to push against the surface of the rotating brake drum, which is attached to the wheel.

Why Do Brakes Malfunction?

As you can see, braking systems consist of multiple components acting in stages, all of which must work properly to function. That presents numerous opportunities for something to go wrong:

• Problems with manufacturing and/or installation – Problems may arise at the time of manufacturing or installation, long before a driver ever gets in the car. The manufacturer may use poor-quality parts, or they may install them improperly, setting the system up for failure.
• Problems with brake components – There are numerous components involved in stopping your car: brake fluid, brake pads, brake caliper, brake cylinder, brake rotors, etc. Any of these components can wear out, malfunction, leak, or otherwise fail to operate as they should.
• Problems with maintenance – Key maintenance must be performed to ensure braking components continue working properly. Eventually, many brake components, such as brake pads, need to be replaced. Without consistent maintenance, it is very hard to know when components need repairing or replacing until it’s too late. Poor maintenance could be the fault of a negligent driver or a negligent mechanic.

How Serious Are Brake Malfunction Car Accidents?

When brakes malfunction, the results can be disastrous and even deadly. A car without working brakes may collide with other cars, buildings, pedestrians, road signs, guard rails, etc., causing harm to the driver and others in or around the accident. If a car’s brakes suddenly lock up, that can also cause serious collisions and injury to the driver and their passengers, who may experience whiplash, or passengers in other cars that collide with the suddenly-stopped car in front of them.

When brake malfunctions occur on tractor-trailer trucks, the damage can be far greater. Brakes are so crucial to truck safety that federal law requires truck drivers to inspect their brakes and other components every day they drive. Unfortunately, according to the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, brake problems were a contributing factor in 29 percent of large truck crashes. Many truck drivers or trucking companies delay key inspections and maintenance in order to save costs and time.

Who Is Responsible for Car Accidents Involving Brake Malfunctions?

Every car accident is different. In order to determine who is responsible for a brake malfunction accident, a lawyer who is experienced with car accidents needs to collect and review photo and video evidence, eyewitness testimony, expert opinions, maintenance and driving records, and law enforcement reports.

The result of this investigation may determine that one or multiple parties are responsible for the accident and therefore potentially liable to pay financial compensation. The following parties could be found liable for brake malfunctions:

• Car Owner – If the owner of the car failed to properly maintain their brakes, resulting in their failure in the accident, that owner could be found liable for the devastation.
• Car/Brake Parts Manufacturer – If the brakes malfunctioned due to a defect in the manufacturing or installation process, the car or parts manufacturer could be found liable for the accident.
• Mechanic – If the vehicle’s mechanic failed to properly perform maintenance on the brakes, the mechanic could be found liable for the resulting accident.
• Trucking companies or drivers – In accidents involving brake failure on tractor-trailer trucks, there are several parties that could be liable. This might include the truck driver, the trucking company, or the truck/parts manufacturer.

Call Evans Moore, LLC Today

Car accidents involving brake malfunctions can cause serious damage to people and property, and the aftermath can be perplexing, frustrating, stressful, and upsetting. An experienced personal injury lawyer can shoulder the burden of pursuing the parties responsible for the accident, while you focus on your recovery. The attorneys of Evans Moore, LLC understand how devasting brake malfunction accidents can be and are well-versed in the law and legal strategies associated with pursuing financial compensation. Do not hesitate to call our office at (843) 995-5000 for a free consultation about your accident.