A design defect is a flaw in the basic blueprint or plan of a product that makes it unreasonably dangerous for its intended use, even when the item is manufactured and used exactly as intended. Unlike manufacturing defects where something goes wrong during production, design defects affect every single unit of the product because the problem is built into the original design itself. For example, if a car model has a tendency to roll over during normal turns because of how it was designed, or if a medication causes heart attacks due to its chemical formula, these would be considered design defects.
In personal injury cases involving design defects, you must prove that the manufacturer could have made the product safer without significantly increasing costs or reducing its usefulness, but chose not to do so. These cases often require expert witnesses to explain how the product should have been designed differently and why the current design is unreasonably dangerous. Design defect lawsuits can be particularly valuable because they often affect many people who used the same product, potentially leading to class action suits or large settlements, and they may force companies to recall dangerous products and redesign them to be safer.
