Manufacturer Design Defects: The Consumers Problem?

The subject of product design defects is an interesting one to be sure. Should the makers of the product be held liable for any and all problems for a device once it has been sold to consumers and a widespread defect has been discovered? If the defect is minor, and has small influence on the operation of the product should they be made to fix it? Who decides if a defect is indeed 'minor ' and how should the whole process best be handled?

There are one or two examples today of digital cameras that have well-known defects, but the manufacturers' employees when questioned about the problem will state they have never heard of it before. All the major camera manufacturers are guilty of this, so it seems to be the policy of each company to deny knowledge of an issue unless made to do so legally.

When a large problem arises with a product, and the maker is aware of the problem, they should fix it. That does make sense. As an example, it is announced that the Ford Motor Company decided it would be cheaper in the long run to NOT recall the "Pinto" model vehicles that had a heavy rate of catching on fire and exploding when in certain accidents due to poor design. Instead of fixing the difficulty before there was accidental, they made a decision it would be cheaper to settle court actions against them for injuries and deaths due to the design instead. Clearly in this case, the maker should have corrected the auto before there was any injury or deaths in the first place.

When it comes to smaller consumer electronics, when is it worthwhile to take the company to court and try and cause them to mend the product? As an example, the Canon SD790 body screws nearly always vibrate themselves loose and drop out of the camera. This causes the side trim of the camera body including the handstrap itself to fall off, leaving a large gaping hole in the side of the camera for mud and waste to enter easily.

The screws should be secured with something like "Locktite", and can be bought online for about $7 including shipping for a pair. In this situation should the manufacturer pay each consumer of this camera $7 or send them a pair of screws and some "Locktite" to secure them? We both know that the sole way that would occur is if they were legally made to do so. The issue is, a legal case will take a long time to settle, and the only folk who really benefit from it are the lawyers, and no one else.

A counsel in a case like this, representing thousands of customers, could stand to earn a hundred thousand dollars or more for their time, while the consumer sees just $7 each. Is this fair? Is this justice? The case could take a long time to settle, and meanwhile all you would like is a Canon SD790 replacement screws repair kit for your camera!

A more honorable thing for the manufacturer to do would be to own up to the difficulty and supply a solution for either a particularly minimum cost to the customer or no charge . This will go a ways to increase buyer confidence in the manufacturer as well as keeping that shopper loyal to the brand thereby making the money back through future purchase. Sadly it appears as though large companies might be too worried about today to think about the future.