SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED? BEWARE OF WHAT THIS MEANS?

[machinedoc]

SOME DEALERS ARE SELLING EQUIPMENT AND ARE REQUIRING THE CUSTOMER TO ASSEMBLE THE PRODUCT UPON TAKING DELIVERY. THIS IS PROMOTED AS A SALE OR SPECIAL PROMO TO SAVE CONSUMERS BIG DOLLARS ON THE INITIAL PRICE YOU PAY. DID YOU KNOW THAT YOU LOSE MOST OF YOUR CONSUMER RIGHTS WHEN YOU ASSEMBLE EVEN THE SIMPLEST AGRICULTURE IMPLEMENT? IF SOMETHING HAPPENS RELATED TO THAT PIECE OF EQUIPMENT, OR SOMEONE GETS INJURED, THE DEALER, DISTRIBUTOR, MANUFACTURER, ARE ALL OFF THE HOOK. THIS IS BECAUSE YOU DID THE ASSEMBLY AND WHEN A COURT CASE WOULD BE PRESENTED, THE DEALER, DISTRIBUTOR AND MANUFACTURER WOULD ALL CONTEND" AS THEY HAD NO CONTROL OVER THE PROPER AND CORRECT SETUP AND ASSEMBLY, THEY CANNOT BE HELD RESPONSIBLE FOR DAMAGES OR LIABILITY. CAN YOU IMAGINE BUYING YOUR NEW TRACTOR AND THE DEALER REQUESTING THAT YOU INSTALL THE DRIVETRAIN AND SAVE $2000 ?? BE CAREFUL OUT THERE!!

 

[JohnS]

Without knowing the specific laws, I would assume this is the case only if the particular incident was traced back to faulty assembly. How about implements, like KK, whick included assembly directions? If followed to the letter, who would be responsible? I haven't had any warrantee issues that were not resolved because of user assembly. Can you point me to a specific case, that you may be quoting from?

 

[HayDR]

Not all dealers are equal so "Price Only" is the worst way to shop. Finish mowers typically take 2 hours for most people to put together when coming out of the crate. Tillers usually require the mounting of the hitch. Many items are not that hard to assemble. Stay away from Disc Mowers, Drum mowers, sickle bar mowers & rotary cutters that are sold in the crate. Just pay the dealer their set-up fee and the shipping might be a little more but it worth the money.

 

[machinedoc]

assembly directions? If followed to the
letter, who would be responsible

Warranty problems or product short comings are probably the least to worry about. Worst case situation. you assemble to the letter of instructions: (most of this type equip does not usually
have assy instructions included) Next: someone gets tangled in a power shaft or a loose or defective bolt comes off and
you or your helping friend or neighbor is injured. You cannot prove that you did follow instructions to the letter
and therefore you will bear the liability for the persons injury. This is called contibutority neglegance and the
jury would decide what percent of fault you were responsible for. I would assume,this situation may be
somewhat avoided, if the consumer video taped his step-by-step assembly and had the process witnessed and
notarized and kept on file for any possible future litigation. Recently, a local farmer had a judgement aganist
him for over $100,000 + medical expenses just because a 30 year old JD wagon gear had a wheel spindle to
break and injured 2 neighbor friends and helpers riding on the wagon bed. The injured friends sued JD, the
farmer and the person that sold the used JD wagon to the farmer 15 years ago. They collected from the farmer
and from Deere and nothing from the local dealer. Now keep in mind, personally, I cannot see where anyone
was at fault after 30 years of use, the wagon spindle failure could have been caused by a 100 different
circumstances. When it comes to ag type equipment and the inherient dangers associated with them, "Some
assembly required" is a red flag to me. There was another similiar circumstance, involving a Vermeer hay roller
in Texas. Resulted in settlement in the millions! Sorry, I am Getting a little off the subject. Bottom line, NO
MATTER WHAT, let the SELLING dealers assemble all that you purchase and you will never have to worry about
getting caught in the middle.

 

[bmac]

<font color=blue>Recently, a local farmer had a judgement aganist
him for over $100,000 + medical expenses just because a 30 year old JD wagon gear had a wheel spindle to
break and injured 2 neighbor friends and helpers riding on the wagon bed. The injured friends sued JD, the
farmer and the person that sold the used JD wagon to the farmer 15 years ago.</font color=blue>

Forgive me, but I fail to see how this reference supports an arguement regarding equipment assembly. Did the farmer assemble the wagon? As it was used when he bought it, that seems unlikely. Maybe a more likely scenario is that the farmer failed to maintain his equipment properly or maybe this particular wagon was not intended to transport people. I could see a judgement against him in either of these situations.

It is true that people get sued for any reason imaginable. Seems like no one can accept the fact that accidents can and do occur without any real negligence involved. Sadly, the courts like to affix blame and so often it is totally disproportionate to the degree of injury involved (dare I bring up the hot coffee and McDonalds again?).

I do not disagree that one might find themself on the wrong end of a liability judgement for the reasons you mention regarding equipment assembly. However, you might incur similar judgements from driving a car. To date, I have not yet resorted to public transportation because of this risk. Why? because I have liability insurance to cover such occurances. Seems like farmers and other users of agricultural equipment should as well.

Sorry for the long response. Its a lazy, rainy Sunday afternoon and I guess I'm just bored.

 

[JohnS]

To some degree, I would think a dealer that sells an item in a crate, has more liability than if they assembled it. ie, they sold it knowingly to an enduser, that would have to do the full assembly and check-out. They, the dealer are aware of the dangers involved, that the consumer may not. If the product did not have any assembly instructions and the consumer got hurt putting it together, who would be at fault? The consumer did not sign anything to forgo any rights.

Assembly would only be one concern. Maintenance, repair (should they all be done by a certified mechanic?), modifications (adding a toolbox, cupholder, etc), are all possible liabilities.

Personally, I don't make decisions based on any ability to sue someone or company. I am the only person that uses the equipment I purchase. Farmers, or anyone that employees anyone, even if unpaid, have additional exposures that I don't.

A couple of months ago, I broke my left arm doing some tree limbing in the yard. I am lucky, that is all that happened. I guess I could have found a Philly lawyer that could say "the chainsaw manual failed to provide all the proper instructions for cutting and limbing trees". Bottomline, it was an accident, and if anyone was at fault, it is myself. In this litigous world, I can probably sue myself, and win! /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[machinedoc]

To some degree, I would think a dealer that sells an item in a crate, has more liability than
if they assembled it. ie, they sold it knowingly to an enduser, that would have to do the full
assembly and check-out. They, the dealer are aware of the dangers involved, that the
consumer may not.

Logically, I think you are correct. Problem is, when the consumer gets into the production of a product for end use, Technically, He becomes a party to the manufacturing process and also the liability that may insue. All dealers have known this for years and some use this marketing technique to shift some of the liability or at least raise resonable doubt in a jurys mind? Most of the male population that use this type equipment, feel just like you and I do, However, The dealers and distributors and manufacturers are not worried about you suing them, if you get killed on the equipment !! (you wont be around) It is the grieving family members that usually try to find someone to blame for a unfortunate accident.

 

[machinedoc]

Forgive me, but I fail to see how this reference supports an arguement regarding equipment
assembly. Did the farmer assemble the wagon? As it was used when he bought it, that
seems unlikely

bmac, to some extent, you right and wrong. He did buy the wagon gear used. Problem was, I guess the jury decided that since he built a new white oak 16 ft flatbed on the JD wagon gear (for hayrides at church) that he was involved in the end product manufacture and therefore share liability equally with JD. This is sad because the part he built (the wood flatbed) did not fail or cause any of the injurys to occur. By the way, there was a old stress crack in the broken spindle that had been ther for years and maybe even from during the manufacture process 30 years ago??

 

[JohnS]

While I can understand how lawyers could blur the lines in a jurys mind, just haven't heard a particular case where a dealer or seller was off the hook because they sold something that still needed some assembly. Look at all the consumer goods that require assembly. While I don't search for libal cases, just can't ever remember hearing of one. Also, don' t think the dealers liability insurance changes because he sells some items by the crate. ie, no savings to them, outside of the assembly and check-out, and reduced long distance shipping. Don't believe a dealer would sell crated items, with the thought that there would be a high likelyhood that the person is going to come back and sue them, so they would have a reduction in settlement. Just the cost of going to court, is the problem for dealers.

 

[machinedoc]

You are beginning to get to the heart of the matter, most dealers dont have and cant afford a umbrella product liability insurance policy for this type equip. They run thier business as a INC or LLC and keep about all the assets out of that entity. So basically, if a liability issue arose, there would not be many $ for a liable judgement to get anyway. Selling crated equip, is only 1 of many tools a dealer will use to reduce overall liablility exposure. Guess whar? The ones that do carry liability insurance are encouraged by the carriers to do those type things and more, to reduce premiums.