You love that your vehicle has heated seats, but seat heater-related injuries often occur in people suffering paralysis. New Jersey product liability attorneys know that quadriplegics and paraplegics cannot feel the seat burning their skin and often suffer severe burn injuries.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has sought the auto industry’s help for ways to reduce the risk of seat heater-related injuries in this vulnerable population. A Society of Automotive Engineers committee is looking into methods of eliminating the need to manually shut-off the seat heater or lower the temperature. The committee is considering proposals that include a maximum temperature setting for seat heaters and automatic shut-off features that would be standard across the industry. Although the rate of injury from seat heaters is low, the fact that many vulnerable persons are getting injured because they are unable to tell the seat is burning their skin has become too high is cause for concern. Since 1984, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has received more than 1,260 complaints of seat heater issues. In at least 287 of these cases, the persons in the seats were injured. In 512 of the cases, the seat got hot enough to cause a fire.

Seat heater injuries can be quite serious in those people with sensory deprivation issues, and New Jersey product liability attorneys can help victims get the compensation they deserve.

If you or a loved one has been injured with a seat heater-related burn, the Brown, Novick & Colarulo can take legal action on your behalf in product liability cases.