When most auto enthusiasts take the plunge into collecting, they usually take the path of buying and restoring a favorite car or truck from their youth and adding classics as their collection grows. William Brill took a different path. A retired premises liability specialist, his background led to a somewhat unusual approach. “The first car I owned was a Pinto,” Brill points out in way of explanation. “That particular car became something of a poster child for product liability, thanks to a poorly designed fuel tank that had an unfortunate tendency of rupturing and exploding in rear-end collisions. There were multiple court cases filed by liability lawyers and while the resulting settlements did nothing to bring back the drivers who had been killed, it did help kick start an era of increased scrutiny of automobile safety.”

While some collectors find Brill’s focus a little on the dark side, Brill maintains that it’s an important recognition of the critical role product liability cases have played in pushing automakers toward increased safety and quality control in the vehicles they sell. “While car makers might have faced some minor consumer backlash if they cut corners and sold a vehicle that had known safety compromises, historically the impact had been limited,” explains Brill. “However, when liability lawyers began to aggressively take on these cases on behalf of injured customers, the court cases and resulting verdicts against automakers made news. This had the effect of putting public and then regulatory pressure to increase safety and the punitive damage awards not only helped victims, but put some financial pressure on manufacturers.”

As an example, Brill points to the biggest vehicle in his garage, a red Ford F-350 pickup truck. The wheels of this vehicle are blocked to prevent it from accidentally rolling. A three-year-old boy was killed by a similar truck that ran over him in 1994, due to a poorly designed emergency brake system that could disengage. Liability lawyers representing the boy’s family won an initial judgment of $153 million against Ford.

“If you look at my collection, there are far fewer vehicles representing the past decade, especially compared to the seventies,” says Brill. “I think that’s because the pressure from legislators, the public and the legal community has forced auto makers to take product liability seriously.” With any luck, Brill’s collection won’t get any larger.

About the Author :-

Webb Ryder is an auto enthusiast with a twist -where most of his peers collect classic cars, Ryder’s focus is on infamous vehicles that have the subject of lawsuits because of serious design defects. Liability lawyers would be quite familiar with Ryder’s collection, which includes a Ford Explorer SUV, Chevy Nova and the ever-popular Pinto. While Ryder owns fewer than twenty cars, collectively they represent recalls numbering in the tens of millions, not to mention hundreds of millions of dollars in punitive damages awarded through court cases. Ryder recently profiled a fellow collector and retired premises liability specialist who has built a sizable exhibit of infamous automobiles.