A manufacturing defect occurs when a product is made incorrectly during the production process, making it different and more dangerous than the manufacturer intended or than other identical products coming off the same assembly line. This happens when something goes wrong during manufacturing that creates a flaw in a specific product, even though the design itself might be perfectly safe. For example, if a car's brake pads are supposed to contain certain materials but one particular car gets brake pads made with substandard materials due to an error at the factory, that would be a manufacturing defect.
In personal injury cases, manufacturing defects can lead to product liability lawsuits when the defective product causes someone to get hurt. The injured person typically doesn't need to prove that the manufacturer was careless or negligent - they just need to show that the product was defective when it left the factory and that this defect caused their injuries. For instance, if a ladder collapses because it was assembled with the wrong bolts at the factory, injuring someone who was using it properly, the manufacturer could be held responsible for the victim's medical bills and other damages even if they had good quality control procedures in place and the defect was an isolated mistake.
