ducatiboy said:
thisiszachary said:
That's the beauty of products liability law. By making a safety measure, no matter how easily bypassed (thanks, DucatiBoy!), Pioneer has thus covered its ass.
Well yah, but what about my ass? I want to cover it as well. I'm happy to help all you guys out with this little circuit and all but I want to cover my ass as well. I'm hoping the disclaimer I ship with each one is enough.
Well, DucatiBoy, like any potentially dangerous product (and that term is used broadly, as most people wouldn't consider a navigation system as "potentially dangerous"), there are workarounds. If someone removes a speed governor from a car, or removes safety guards (or alters the "dead man's handle") from a lawnmower or other dangerous lawn equipment and then injures themselves, they (the end user) has no recourse to sue the manufacturer. The end user can't sue the manufacturer of the scissors, tools, or other methods of alteration used to remove the safety features. Once the end user has removed the safety features, he assumes all risks of injury. If I recall my first year torts course correctly, the user's alteration of the manufacturer's safety features is called a "superceding, intervening" event that the manufacturer cannot foresee. Of course, if the manufacturer could reasonably foresee the alteration, then that would be a different story, but that is for a jury to decide! :wink:
In other words, by incorporating a disclaimer on your product, you are relieving yourself of liability if someone purposely alters the original manufacturer's safety features.
Of course, I'm not a lawyer (yet), and this cannot be construed as legal advice... merely the opinion of someone (a citizen-consumer) who is awaiting the results of the bar exam.