Products Liability has become a big issue in the news and courts. Is it fair to hold companies responsible when it is a small fraction of the products produced that cause consumer’s harm? Is there an acceptable failure rate to relieve manufacturers from liability? Should the fact that most of these purchases by consumers are purely voluntary matter?

Yes, it is fair to hold companies responsible as there are systems and processes in place to detect and control processes to ensure that little or no harm happens to the Consumer, and it will help to quicken the efforts of manufacturers to always do the needful.

No,In manufacturing following the best standards there should not be any failure rate at which manufacturers will be exempted from liabilities, using the six sigma standard which specifies 34defects for every 1000000output is good but manufacturers should still pay for the liabilities associated.

BEING A PURELY VOLUNTARY MATTER DOES NOT EXEMPT MANUFACTURERS FROM LIABILITIES RESULTING FROM THEIR PRODUCTS OR SERVICES AS THEY OWE SOME DUTIES TO THEIR CONSUMERS AND THE SOCIETY AT LARGE.

Explanation: Liabilities are losses or failures observed in a process that is capable of causing harm to both the Consumer and the manufacturer.

Following best practices,defects should be minimised to the nearest minimum,as specified by the Six sigma approach for world class companies it should be 34defects for every 1000000 outputs.

Being a purely voluntary matter doesn't exempt manufacturers from liabilities as they owe that to their end users or consumers and to the society in general to produce the best quality products that meets the needs of the Consumer.