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Apple Insists It's Not Responsible For Distracted Driving Accidents Involving iPhones

autrefois said:
How could anyone possibly think this is Apple's fault? If there was ever a frivolous lawsuit, this is it.
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There are all sorts of rules and regulations that hold a manufacturer at fault even if the caused injury or death was because someone intentionally ignored how the device was supposed to be used. Most of the ones I know are in the workplace, especially industrial, but I'm sure there are situations in the public area as well.

I don't think that Apple SHOULD be held liable, but it doesn't mean that they won't be.
 
I have seen people reading newspapers (!!!) eating, drinking, putting on makeup as well as texting regularly. Do we sue suppliers of fast food? People need to take responsibility for their driving. Simple. Put the ***** phone down!

The sooner self driving cars take over from the idiots with licences who half-drive the better. I'm sick of getting almost side swiped daily and then seeing the driver has the "SMS head bob" going on... grrrr
 
Act3 said:
This is almost like suing Jack Daniels for a drunk driver
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I think it's a little different. For example, if a bartender keeps serving someone after they're noticeably drunk, they may be liable...thus bartenders may refuse someone service if they are visibly intoxicated. In your comparison, the phone is like Jack Daniels...but we may consider the software (which Apple also is responsible for) as like a bartender...particularly since Apple itself has decided a Do Not Distract While Driving feature is worthwhile. I've noticed Waze already does this; I believe by default.

I recognize my comparison leaves out stuff like the fact that you could be in the passenger seat...I'm just saying it's not as cut and dried as the comparison with whiskey.

That all said, I think it's pretty dumb to sue to Apple because a driver who hit you was texting on an iPhone. However, I might think about doing so myself, if the driver who was texting ended up killing my whole family.
 
ocnitsa said:
I think it's a little different. For example, if a bartender keeps serving someone after they're noticeably drunk, they may be liable...thus bartenders may refuse someone service if they are visibly intoxicated. In your comparison, the phone is like Jack Daniels...but we may consider the software (which Apple also is responsible for) as like a bartender...particularly since Apple itself has decided a Do Not Distract While Driving feature is worthwhile. I've noticed Waze already does this; I believe by default.

I recognize my comparison leaves out stuff like the fact that you could be in the passenger seat...I'm just saying it's not as cut and dried as the comparison with whiskey.

That all said, I think it's pretty dumb to sue to Apple because a driver who hit you was texting on an iPhone. However, I might think about doing so myself, if the driver who was texting ended up killing my whole family.
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And yet you are providing the slippery slope argument right here to absolve people of their own responsibility. IMO a bartender should never be held responsible for a drunk driver, the driver is making the bad decisions.
 
ocnitsa said:
I think it's a little different. For example, if a bartender keeps serving someone after they're noticeably drunk, they may be liable...thus bartenders may refuse someone service if they are visibly intoxicated. In your comparison, the phone is like Jack Daniels...but we may consider the software (which Apple also is responsible for) as like a bartender...particularly since Apple itself has decided a Do Not Distract While Driving feature is worthwhile. I've noticed Waze already does this; I believe by default.

I recognize my comparison leaves out stuff like the fact that you could be in the passenger seat...I'm just saying it's not as cut and dried as the comparison with whiskey.

That all said, I think it's pretty dumb to sue to Apple because a driver who hit you was texting on an iPhone. However, I might think about doing so myself, if the driver who was texting ended up killing my whole family.
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I agree it's a little different. Reread my post. Key word almost.

Sue the driver , not apple.

If the driver was driving drunk and causes injuries , he gets sued. Not the distillery who made the alcohol. Suing apple would be the same as suing the car manufacturers for not having breathlyzers that would prevent car from starting in the event the person in driver seat was drunk.

On a different but similar topic , these self driving cars are going to be a liability nightmare for the companys that make them. I can see a large lawsuit the first time the software messes up and causes death.
 
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Stella said:
The responsibility lies with the motorist. Simple.


But people can't take responsibility for their own poor choices...
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The plaintiff was the driver of the OTHER CAR. I'd guess the driver that was using their phone didn't have enough insurance or any insurance.

I don't disagree - it's like suing a bar because the patron got drunk and ran into you.

That said we need to make this a giant no no, and take driving way more seriously than we actually do in this country. Stupid idiots keep buying smartphones and then acting like they can multitask, and then accidents like this happen. And then someone comes here acting like they're smart and says that people messing with the radio is just as bad. It is bad, but not nearly as bad
 
F you are so important that you MUST be able to manually text and drive, you really need to insist on having a driver.

Otherwise, pull over, like the woman I saw yesterday in the middle of a busy road checking the air in her tires.

:confused:
 
Whining entitled eejits who cannot take their eyes off the phone for one second. How about self-control and common bloody sense? Can Apple please sue people like these back for walking the face of the Earth? If Apple implemented a feature that would lock them out of their phones, the next lawsuit would be about someone not being able to check their Instagram notifications and feeling emotionally deprived. My God. The amount of eejits on this planet...
 
KPandian1 said:
No, the US does NOT have laws against use of hand-held devices while driving a vehicle. There are some states that have and loosely enforce them against texting while driving. USA is still screwed-up in this regard compared to European nations and most other nations of the world!

This is because it is the job of the politicians to draft such laws; we know where their heads are at now. They still don't enforce camera captured moving violations - apparently their privacy is invaded!

Some still think that seat belts are traps and don't apply to rear-seat passengers!
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The states that I have the most interaction with have laws for phone use while driving(Virginia, Maryland, North Carolina) and those are pretty strict and most people take it seriously. There's always some who won't follow the rules.
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Tem said:
Playing devils advocate here, I hope everyone that is so defensive of Apple's responsibility in this matter are just as defensive of the Smith & Wesson's, Ruger's, Remington's, etc.
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Those companies have no responsibility if someone misuses a gun. My father owned guns his entire life and never killed anyone. He was a hunter. Guns were kept in a locked gun cabinet. We knew not to touch the guns.
 
Tem said:
Playing devils advocate here, I hope everyone that is so defensive of Apple's responsibility in this matter are just as defensive of the Smith & Wesson's, Ruger's, Remington's, etc.
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Yes, because an iPhone is designed to kill
 
You guys are too narrow minded

I bought an iphone and I used it to acquire a **** load of drugs and almost died. IT"S Apple's fault!!! Who wants to start a class action??

Also, my GF called me on my iphone and dumped me. Now she is my ex APPLE is ruining our lives!!
 
Personally, i'd like to wish id be surprised this made it to an article but i'm not. The way society is moving whereby people aren't accountable for their actions is ridiculous. Put your phone down. Lock it in your boot if you're that addicted and tempted to check it. The fact that Apple/Samsung/Microsoft all make products which are used on the go doesn't mean the user HAS to use them at that moment.

I'm not a saint, and won't ever admit to not using my phone whilst driving, but in no way would i ever consider making the manufacturer culpable for my mistakes.
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ineedamac said:
This is stupid. You cannot blame your iPhone for making you crash your car.
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Think of it as a form of natural selection ;)
 
I think Apple is right. I remember being shocked when I heard about some very unhealthy people who sued McDonalds... and won.

"the plaintiffs accused Apple of failing to automatically disable a user's ability to operate an iPhone while driving, and of improper marketing" this is mental - so we should all be wrapped in metaphorical bubble wrap by the state and private companies, in case we're too stupid not to do something that's obviously dangerous?
 
There is no way apple is at fault. Could the phone do more yes but its down to the user to act responsibly (and take responsibility). But like saying its Fords fault for not fitting auto breaking which didn't prevent me crashing.
 
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TheIguana said:
Perhaps not liable, but the addition of better "Do Not Disturb" features should continue to be applauded and encouraged.
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But how would this work? How would the phone know that it is the driver's phone and not the passenger's?

When we are go on trips, we usually connect my phone via Bluetooth, since I have more audio books, podcasts, and music for us to listen to on my phone than my wife has on hers. So even when I'm a passenger I'm connected to Bluetooth. But as a passenger, I can also text, look up things on the internet, etc. I would want the phone deciding that, since I'm the one connected to Bluetooth in a moving car I must be the driver and therefore lock me out.
 
Apple should not be held responsible for people who make ignorant choices maybe they should sue Mc Donald's because they say eating in your car also distracts you while driving .
 
JimMann said:
But how would this work? How would the phone know that it is the driver's phone and not the passenger's?

When we are go on trips, we usually connect my phone via Bluetooth, since I have more audio books, podcasts, and music for us to listen to on my phone than my wife has on hers. So even when I'm a passenger I'm connected to Bluetooth. But as a passenger, I can also text, look up things on the internet, etc. I would want the phone deciding that, since I'm the one connected to Bluetooth in a moving car I must be the driver and therefore lock me out.
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You can still override it if you are a passenger (https://www.macrumors.com/2017/06/30/ios-11-do-not-disturb-while-driving/).

tridley68 said:
Apple should not be held responsible for people who make ignorant choices maybe they should sue Mc Donald's because they say eating in your car also distracts you while driving .
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Perhaps, but distracted driving is becoming an enormous safety problem. Anything that manufacturers can do to incorporate new ways to poke and prod people into remembering that they have responsibilities while driving seems like a good thing.
 
It is a lack of enforcing the road-driving rules by the police that allows this epidemic in the USA!

Even if there are no cell phone laws, which should exist on par with Europe, just citing the "distracted driving" alone will be enough to issue a ticket.

On an empty 55mph road, driving at 40mph/55mph or 85mph, if the good driver is not distracted, there will be no accidents. Same driver, at 5mph can kill a child while reading a text, worse if actually replying.

A regular driver who HAS to check the speedometer every 5-10 seconds (unless they are on cruise control mode) loses sight of the traffic ahead and events like a brake-light coming on - and that is in just a fraction of a second. Reading a text - minimum 3 seconds.

I blame the police for not focusing on this issue in the last decade - not the relaxed speed limits.

No cell phone/devices in the hands when driving, period!
 
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