Camacho v. Honda Motor Co.
Colorado Supreme Court
741 P.2d 1240 (1987)
Camacho (plaintiff) suffered leg injuries in a motorcycle accident and sued Honda (defendant) for strict liability, alleging the motorcycle was defectively designed because Honda failed to include available crash bars or other leg-protection devices. The trial court and court of appeals both granted Honda summary judgment, applying a consumer-contemplation test and finding the risk of leg injury in a motorcycle accident was within an ordinary consumer's contemplation.
Whether strict liability for a design defect turns on whether the danger was within the ordinary consumer's contemplation, or on a broader totality-of-the-circumstances analysis, particularly for complex products requiring technical expertise to evaluate.