Products Liability Law and Its Implications for Engineering Practice

This article explores the question of product liability from an engineers' perspective and predicts that liability risksare less likely to occur if engineers understand the legal claims typically found in products liability lawsuits and change design practices accordingly. While a product can be considered "not defective" from an engineering point-of-view it might still be defective from a legal one.This article discusses how engineers can help avoid product liability pitfalls by considering legal definitions of product defect in the design process, choosing their words carefully when dealing with customers, and working to ensure sales and marketing representations are grounded in product design capabilities.