Design Defect

A design defect is a legal claim that a product is unreasonably dangerous because of the way it was designed, not because something went wrong in manufacturing it. Every unit made to the design carries the same flaw. In asbestos cases, this often means the product was dangerous because asbestos was chosen as an ingredient when safer alternatives existed.

Origin

The modern doctrine grew out of mid-20th century American product liability law, particularly the Restatement (Second) of Torts § 402A (1965) and California Supreme Court decisions like Greenman v. Yuba Power Products (1963) and Barker v. Lull Engineering (1978), which established the consumer-expectations and risk-utility tests still used today.

Significance in Asbestos Context

For a patient's case, a design defect claim says the manufacturer's product was dangerous as designed. Every pipe-covering, every brake, every joint compound coming off the line carried the same hazard. This matters because the patient does not have to prove the specific unit they encountered was unusual or flawed; the design itself is the problem. Courts typically evaluate this with one of two tests: whether the product was more dangerous than an ordinary user would expect (consumer-expectations test), or whether the risks of the design outweighed its benefits when safer alternatives like fiberglass, mineral wool, or non-asbestos friction materials were available (risk-utility test). Defendants often argue asbestos was state-of-the-art at the time, so your legal team will likely need to show that safer substitutes existed and were known to industry.

Example Sentence

Her attorneys pursued a design defect theory, arguing that the gasket manufacturer could have used non-asbestos fibers available since the 1970s but chose asbestos to save costs.

Related Terms

Product Liability, Strict Liability, Manufacturing Defect, Failure to Warn, Risk-Utility Test, State-of-the-Art Defense

Notes

• Help your legal team identify the specific asbestos-containing products you worked with or around (brand names, manufacturers, time periods, and job sites) because design defect claims must be tied to identifiable products.
• Preserve any product packaging, purchase records, employer material lists, union records, or co-worker statements that confirm which manufacturers' products were present at your worksites.
• Ask your attorney whether your jurisdiction uses the consumer-expectations test, the risk-utility test, or both; this affects what evidence is needed and which experts may be retained.
• A design defect claim is separate from a failure-to-warn claim, and many asbestos cases pursue both. Make sure you understand which theories are being filed on your behalf.