Defective
Products
 The
deadline for most dangerous product (product liability) claims in
Kansas is two (2) years from the date of the injury caused by the
product. There are some exceptions since some dangerous products may
cause injuries which do not appear for years after exposure to the
product and other dangerous products may cause injuries which are not
connected to the product by medical science for years after the
exposure. Generally the date of the injury is not deemed to have
occurred until (1) exposure to the product, (2) injury from the product
and (3) reason to know of the connection between the exposure and the
injury- have all occurred. In some cases where a manufacturer has
deliberately misled the public as to the safety of its product, the
deadline for filing the claim may be longer still.
Claim Information
Generally a product liability claim arises where a defective product
has caused injury. A product is defective if it poses an unreasonable
risk of harm. A product may be defective in design or in manufacture.
The definition of a product is pretty broad, and it can even include
components of a building such as an escalator.
What Makes a Product Defective
Unfortunately, there are a number of reasons that
defective products may their way on to our shelves. These include:
Design
defects
Design defects, ranging from defective harness systems on child car
seats to hair dryers that dangerously overheat, cause million of
injuries annually. These occur before the product is created, in the
initial planning phase. Oftentimes, manufacturers catch these after
products have been distributed for sale and have to launch a recall.
The problem with recalls, however, is that 1) they often occur too late
and 2) for whatever reason, product owners may never hear of the
recall.
Defective
Manufacturing
These flaws result from mistakes or problems that take place during the
actual production phase, and they may only affect a few specific items
out of many properly working, safe products. One example of a
manufacturing defect is a rolling office chair whose wheel disengages,
causing the person in the chair to fall and injure her back. Like
products with design defects, products with manufacturing def ects are
frequently recalled, albeit too late, in many cases.
Inadequate
Testing
This is all too common when it comes to safety crash testing. Most
corporations test crashworthiness, safety belt effectiveness, and other
elements at only 40 miles per hour and only in front-end crashes,
rendering these tests inconclusive. Yet these standards have yet to be
revised. Other examples include silicone breast implants (long-term
effects were not yet known at the time of FDA-approval), faulty
electrical wiring, and inefficient child restraint systems.
Marketing
Misrepresentation
This can include everything from confusing, hard-to-follow instructions
to incomplete warning labels, such as those on prescription drugs.
Often, instructions are written at a 10 th-grade level, while the
majority of consumers read far below that. Simply revising the
instructions so that they match those of newspapers – which are written
at a 6 th-grade level- could prevent thousands of injuries.
Examples of Product
Liability Claims 
Some examples of
dangerous products which have been led to successful products liability
claims include:
dangerous appliances which injure users and/or
bystanders, appliances and other electrical equipment which ignite or
cause nearby materials to catch on fire, products- like aerosol cans-
which explode
or erupt, asbestos, medical devices which fail or which otherwise cause
serious injury, medications with serious undisclosed side effects,
vehicles which are unsafe to operate, equipment which comes apart when
used, products which cause injury due to radiation exposure, equipment
without safety shields, childrens' toys which endanger the child,
furniture which comes apart or collapses during use, highly flammable
fabrics in clothing, products which violate OSHA or other state or
federal regulations, products which fail to comply with UL or CPSC
standards and products without warnings of hidden dangers.
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