Ethical dilemma regarding product defects and liability

In My Humble Opinion
1

This is a simplified version of something that happened to me.

You buy an expensive radio-controlled model airplane - it costs $500. This particular model comes as a kit and includes all the electronics and parts needed to build the plane.

You are flying the plane one day when you suddenly seem to lose control. The plane dives towards the ground. At the last moment, you regain control and manage to avoid destroying the plane. You assume that an electronic problem caused the loss of control, but after checking the connections and operations of all components on the ground, you cannot find anything wrong. Puzzled, you attribute the loss of control to gusty winds and your inexperience in operating this high-performance model, and continue flying it with no problems.

A month or so later, you crash the airplane by attempting a stupid stunt in front of your friends. Repairing it will cost about $200.

While researching what parts you will need to order to repair the plane, you discover a notice on the manufacturer website stating that certain kits were shipped with a defective radio receiver that can experience intermittent failures, resulting in in-flight loss of control. The manufacturer provides instructions for returning the receiver for a replacement, and that they will pay up to $250 in repair costs for damage to other components resulting from the defective receiver.

You are certain that your earlier incident was the result of one of these defective receivers. And in that case, you were only able to save the plane because of your quick reactio, and because you were flying the airplane high enough that there was room to recover from the electronics failure.

Nevertheless, the actual damage to the airplane came solely from your own carelessness a full month later.

Would it be ethical to submit a claim to the kit manufacturer and ask them to pay for the cost of repair?

Argument for: they are the ones that shipped an airplane with a defective component, and it was only your skill and luck that avoided a crash as a result of the defect. They made no attempt to contact you about the defect.

Argument against: you would be lying to them about the actual cause of the damage you are seeking to be reimbursed for.

EDIT: Damn it, how do I make this a poll?

2

Well… if the argument against isn’t enough… which it should be:rolleyes:… the argument for is flawed:

  • Lots of products have small defects, but most of them are not serious, and the ones that are (usually health risks) get recalled.

  • I’m sorry, how does the manufacturer know how to contact you? Did you give the manufacturer your address and contact info when you bought your plane from XYZ Hobby Store? The manufacturer probably has no idea who you are, until you answer the web notice and give them reasonable assurance that you purchased their product. So the thought that they could contact you beforehand seems unreasonable.

  • But the manufacturer figured anyone who bought a $500 plane and experienced a failure would look at the manufacturer’s website or take it back to the hobby store, which would probably check with the manufacturer. Seems reasonable, so they posted a notice there.

  • Also, you don’t know the extent of the defect (90%, 50%, or only 3% of products), so it may have been a minor defect that didn’t warrant an all-out campaign to pull the planes from the shelves and warn people who had already bought them. Maybe you just drew the short straw from a incredibly low failure rate.
    In short, the only argument that holds is Against, assuming you have moral compunctions about thievery. So yes, it would be unethical to have someone else pay for you crashing your own plane.

3

I am certain that the original loss of control resulted from the defect.

I ordered the plane directly from the manufacturer, so they had all my contact information.

4

They made a faulty product. It’s completely irrelevant whether or not your skill prevented the initial incident a month ago. They should have made a non-faulty product to begin with. It is not your fault you only discovered the notice about the defect through an accident

There’s no guarantee that once you fix your damaged plane, the defect won’t kick in and break it again. I would say send it in and lie about the damage to get it repaired, it’s the most ethical of the choices offered

However, to be completely ethical, you should not lie about the damage, but reason that they are obligated to fix it due to the faulty device in the first place. Then, in reciprocation, the company agrees with your logic and fixes it.

5

Nope, you get to return the receiver for replacement, nothing else. If they had fixed the receiver you would have still crashed the plane by your stupid stunt. Them’s the breaks.

6

Yeah, seems pretty straightforward to me.