Have you been injured in a car accident in Santa Ana, California? Robles Babaee Personal Injury Lawyers can help when you contact us at (714) 263-3700. We provide a free consultation with a Santa Ana car accident lawyer, so you can understand your rights and take the first steps toward financial recovery.
In the mid-1970s, the Motor Traffic and Motor Vehicle Safety Act authorized the U.S. government to establish safety standards and enforce them by withholding funds from non-compliant states. Many states, including California, required annual safety inspections.
While Santa Ana drivers no longer need to prove vehicle safety for registration, unsafe cars on the road can still cause serious accidents. Here’s what you need to know about car inspection laws in California.
How Robles Babaee Personal Injury Lawyers Can Help After a Car Accident in Santa Ana, CA
Drivers can often prevent car accidents resulting from damaged or defective equipment. To that end, the attorneys at Robles Babaee Personal Injury Lawyers focus their work on helping people throughout Santa Ana, CA, seek fair compensation after falling victim to preventable harm.
We will support you in the following ways in the event that you suffer an injury in a crash caused by another driver’s negligence:
- Talking to you about your accident and explaining how we can help you
- Collecting records to support a claim with the at-fault driver’s insurer
- Negotiating with the insurance company to resolve your case
- Filing an injury lawsuit if a settlement is not possible
Contact our team today to schedule a free consultation with a Santa Ana personal injury attorney to discuss your legal options for pursuing injury compensation from the at-fault driver.
Car Inspection Laws in California
Although California no longer requires universal safety inspections, it still has two systems in place for identifying potentially dangerous vehicles: an inspection requirement for salvage vehicles and a prohibition on operating unsafe vehicles.
Inspections for Salvage Vehicles
The first of these is the state’s ongoing requirement of inspections for salvage vehicles, which are those that have been written off as total losses by an insurance company following collisions.
A business will restore, rebuild, or repair the vehicle, and then proceed to resell it. Given that these vehicles have suffered serious damage, the state has an interest in verifying that they will operate safely.
Therefore, the business in question can only offer these vehicles after obtaining an inspection of their safety systems.
Prohibition on Operating Unsafe Vehicles
California’s second system is the state law itself: It prohibits drivers from operating unsafe vehicles. Specifically, law enforcement officers can stop any vehicles that fall into at least one of the following categories:
- An unsafe condition or an immediate safety hazard: A vehicle might be in an unsafe condition or pose an immediate safety hazard if its equipment is broken, such as if it were dragging its exhaust system on the ground.
- Not safely loaded: A vehicle is not safely loaded if its cargo is not secured or covered. Thus, a car with a mattress on top without any straps would fall into this category.
- Not equipped as required by California law: A vehicle might fall into this category if it lacks the required safety equipment or the equipment is broken. For example, an officer could cite a driver for having damaged or missing headlights.
When an officer conducts a spot inspection and determines that the vehicle is unsafe, they will issue a citation. However, according to California law, that citation is correctable; if the driver repairs the fault before their court date, a judge can dismiss the case and charge the driver court fees without imposing a fine.
Liability for Equipment-Related Car Accidents in Santa Ana
Santa Ana’s lack of safety inspections should not affect the establishment of liability for equipment-related crashes in the area. For car accidents in California, in general, liability is determined using negligence. A party is negligent when it fails to exercise reasonable care and causes harm as a result.
Using that doctrine, the following parties could face liability for car crashes resulting from equipment failures:
- Drivers: A driver may be liable for the injuries caused by a car crash if they knew (or should have known) that their car was malfunctioning yet continued to drive it anyway. Thus, a driver may be liable if they fail to have their vehicle fixed even though its brakes grind at every stop.
- Repair shops: Repair shops have a legal duty to perform their services with reasonable competence, so if they fail to do so, they may be liable for any resulting injuries. For example, suppose that a repair shop that performs maintenance on a truck fleet’s tires failed to fully tighten the lug nuts. That shop may be liable for any resulting truck accidents.
- Manufacturers: Product liability laws impose liability on manufacturers for injuries caused by defective equipment. If the vehicle or its parts were faulty, the manufacturer may bear the blame.
Ultimately, liability in Santa Ana car accidents involving equipment failure depends on whether negligence—or, in the case of defective parts, strict liability—can be proven.
Contact Our Santa Ana Accident Lawyers for a Free Consultation
California law entitles you to seek compensation for injury-related losses from the party responsible for causing them in Santa Ana, California. Contact Robles Babaee Personal Injury Lawyers for a free consultation with a Santa Ana car accident lawyer to learn about the compensation we can seek for your car accident injuries.
