PRODUCT LIABILITY AND INNOVATION -- Copyright -- Preface -- Contents -- Overview and Perspectives -- ROOTS OF THE DEBATE -- CONFLICTING EVIDENCE -- THE ENGINEERING PERSPECTIVE -- THE PRODUCT LIABILITY-INNOVATION DYNAMIC -- Expansion of the System Creates Uncertainty -- Another Perspective -- IMPACT ON ENGINEERING PRACTICES, INNOVATION, AND CORPORATE STRATEGIES -- Materials Suppliers -- General Aviation -- Automotive Industry -- Commercial Aviation and Pharmaceuticals -- WHAT CAN BE LEARNED FROM THESE INDUSTRY CASES? -- Product Liability Affects Industries Differently -- How Companies Manage the Risk of Product Liability -- THE SOCIAL, LEGAL, AND REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT -- WHAT CAN BE DONE? -- NOTES -- REFERENCES -- THE DYNAMICS OF INNOVATION AND PRODUCT LIABILITY -- Technology Issues and Product Liability -- DEFINING THE TERMS -- THE PRODUCT LIABILITY-INNOVATION LINK -- SPECIFIC TECHNOLOGY ISSUES -- CONCLUSION -- REFERENCES -- Making Product Liability Work for You: A Path Out of the Product Liability Jungle -- MANUFACTURING DEFECTS -- INNOCENT MISREPRESENTATION -- FAILURE TO WARN -- DESIGN DEFECTS -- TORT REFORM INITIATIVES -- State Tort Reform -- Federal Tort Reform -- INTERNATIONAL COMPARISON -- CONCLUSION -- NOTES -- The Role of the Justice System in the Product Liability Debate -- COMMON MISPERCEPTIONS ABOUT THE PRODUCT LIABILITY SYSTEM -- OPPORTUNITIES FOR IMPROVEMENT -- NOTES -- IMPACT ON ENGINEERING PRACTICE, INNOVATION, AND CORPORATE STRATEGIES -- The Chemical Industry: Risk Management in Today's Product Liability Environment -- RISK MANAGEMENT -- BROAD IMPACTS OF PRODUCT LIABILITY LITIGATION -- IMPACTS ON NEW MATERIALS AND MARKETS -- SOLUTIONS -- CONCLUSION -- Medical Devices, Component Materials, and Product Liability -- PERFORMANCE CHARACTERISTICS -- REGULATING MEDICAL DEVICES -- IMPORTANCE OF MEDICAL DEVICES.

IMPACT OF PRODUCT LIABILITY -- The Suppliers' Dilemma -- Suppliers Become Liable, Too -- Impacts of Short-Term Solutions -- PRESCRIPTION FOR PROGRESS -- CONCLUSION -- REFERENCES -- General Aviation Engineering in a Product Liability Environment -- AIRCRAFT ENGINEERING -- ENGINEERING CHANGES BROUGHT ABOUT BY PRODUCT LIABILITY -- Engineering Resource Allocation -- Documentation -- Joint Research Efforts -- Design -- Product-related Publications -- Certification -- Regulation -- CONCLUSION -- NOTES -- Indirect Effects of Product Liability on a Corporation -- BACKGROUND -- PRODUCT LIABILITY IMPACTS -- Product Strategies -- Relationships with Other Firms -- Financing -- Relationship with Regulators -- Internal and External Communications -- Engineering Design -- Manufacturing -- Personnel Policies -- Handling Risk -- International Competitiveness -- REFORMS ARE NECESSARY -- The Effects of Product Liability on Automotive Engineering Practice -- PRODUCT LIABILITY IMPACTS ON AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING PRACTICE -- WHAT IS THE IMPETUS FOR MAKING CARS SAFER? -- CONCLUSION -- REFERENCE -- Approaches to Product Liability Risk in the U.S. Automotive Industry -- FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES OF AUTOMOTIVE PRODUCT LIABILITY LITIGATION -- Manufacturing Cases -- Warnings Cases -- Design Cases -- HOW IT ALL BEGAN: THE WAY WE WERE IN 1966 -- IS THE U.S. AUTOMOTIVE INDUSTRY AFFECTED BY PRODUCT LIABILITY LITIGATION? -- The Nature of the Risks -- Trial -- Preventive Advice -- DOES U.S. PRODUCT LIABILITY LITIGATION DISCOURAGE ENGINEERING INNOVATION? -- Evidence That the System Does Discourage Innovation -- Evidence That the System Does Not Discourage Innovation -- THE WIDESPREAD DISSATISFACTION WITH THE U.S. PRODUCT LIABILITY SYSTEM -- The Automotive Engineering Reality -- Doctrinal Difficulties with Product Liability Law -- ROLE OF THE ENGINEERING COMMUNITY:THE MISSING CONTRIBUTOR.

The Real Problem: Highway Safety -- THE ULTIMATE, TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY SOLUTION -- AREAS FOR FURTHER STUDY -- APPENDIX: REFORMING PRODUCT LIABILITY LAW -- Tort Reform -- Court-Led Reform -- NOTES -- Innovation, Engineering Practice, and Product Liability in Commercial Aviation -- PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT CYCLE -- RESPONDING TO PROBLEMS -- IMPACT OF PRODUCT LIABILITY -- CONCLUSION -- NOTES -- Regulation, Litigation, and Innovation in the Pharmaceutical Industry: An Equation for Safety -- CONSTRAINTS DESPITE SAFETY NET -- MEDICINE AND POISON -- INDUSTRY SPECIFIC SAFEGUARDS -- EMPOWERMENT OF THE FDA -- THE 359 MILLION ROAD TO MARKET -- REDUCING EXPOSURE OF PRODUCTS IN DEVELOPMENT -- THE HIGH PRICE OF REGULATION -- IS REGULATION WORTH THE PRICE? -- CHILLING LESSONS OF BENDECTIN -- DISPARITIES BETWEEN GOALS OF REGULATION AND LITIGATION -- AREAS FOR TORT REFORM -- A VIABLE EQUATION -- NOTES -- REFERENCES -- THE SOCIAL, LEGAL, AND REGULATORY ENVIRONMENT -- Insurance: The Liability Messenger -- INSURANCE AS MESSENGER -- UNDERWRITING: RESPONSIBLE RISK TAKING -- THE ROOTS OF UNINSURABILITY -- LEGAL LIABILITY: SHORT-CIRCUITING THE INSURANCE MESSAGE -- Liability Principles and Uninsurability -- Science, Pseudo-Science, and Uninsurability -- The Litigation Crisis and Uninsurability -- Other Causes of Uninsurability -- TORT REFORM: REVIVING THE MESSENGER -- Junk Science in the Courtroom: The Impact on Innovation -- INSURANCE, RISK, AND THE ROOTS OF JUNK SCIENCE -- IMPACTS ON NEW TECHNOLOGIES -- LESS-THAN-OPTIMAL SOLUTIONS -- THE DAUBERT RULING -- INSURANCE AS A MODERATOR OF RISK -- GETTING TO YES -- CONCLUSION -- NOTES -- Product Safety Regulation and the Law of Torts -- TORTS VERSUS STATUTES -- TORTS AND STATUTES AS COMPLEMENTS -- REGULATORY REFORM -- COMPENSATION -- CONCLUSIONS -- NOTES.

The Inconvenient Public: Behavioral Research Approaches to Reducing Product Liability Risks -- ARENAS FOR RISK PERCEPTIONS -- SOURCES FOR UNDERSTANDING THE PUBLIC -- WHAT IS KNOWN -- People Simplify -- Once People's Minds Are Made Up, It Is Hard to Change Them -- People Remember What They See -- People Cannot Readily Detect Omissions in the Evidence They Receive -- People May Disagree More about What Risk Is Than about How Large It Is -- People Have Difficulty Detecting Inconsistencies in Risk Disputes -- Experts Are People, Too -- APPLYING BEHAVIORAL RESEARCH -- The Interface of Products, People, and Law -- Predicting Product-Use Problems -- Warning Users about Potential Risks -- Improving the Usage of Existing Products -- Improving Product Design -- CONCLUSION -- NOTES -- REFERENCES -- Contributors -- Index.