What are my rights?

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Hana

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On Sunday, one month after purchasing my mountain bike, while riding downhill a mtn. bike trail, my rear brake failed and I fell, bruising my legs. What are my rights? What can I do?

Thanks in advance.
 
Here are a couple of things to go over before you decide if you want to pursue this legally:
1) Did you have yourself checked at the ER so a medical professional could assess your bruising?
2) What impact have the bruises had on your day to day life?
3) Did you buy the bike assembled or did you assemble it yourself?
4) Did you take the bike to a bike expert to assess if the brakes really failed?
5) Is this a case of just a "bruised ego" and the seeking a big pay out? If you are thinking that way, you will have a lot to prove to the company that manufactures the bike. In today's world, these companies are willing to go to court to fight you and believe you me, unless you really have a really strong case and a deep wallet, you will not get what you want.
6) If you still feel that you have all your ducks in a row and a strong case, seek the advice of an experienced personal injury attorney.

Good luck to you!
 
Thank you Presutin.

The fact that the rear brake failed while I was riding downhill scared me. If I go to the cyclery and they fix my brakes, who will guarantee that this will not happen again? What if next time I break my leg/arm/neck? Should they give me a new bike or just fix this one? How do I get over the fear of my brakes failing next time I ride it?

I haven't suffered damages (except for the bruises) but I'm scared that next time I might.

Again, Presutin, I really appreciate your quick feedback.
 
The big question you didn't answer is did you take the bike to an expert to assess whether the brake really failed? In absence of that, everything else is academic. There's no "fact" that your rear brake failed to be afraid of. Get an expert opinion that your brake failed before worrying about other possibilities.
 
I've never heard of any recalls on bicycles for defectively manufactured equipment, and I if you were able to sue the bike manufacturer on this merit, you'd probably be the first setting a Precedent case.
Furthurmore, Walmart, as well as most, if not all bicycle dealers, have store employees assemble their bikes, which come in boxes, of which could have been the cause of such failure, especially if they rough-assembled the bike, not tightening all the bolts securely, to allow them to quickly put the bike on display.
For this reason the "pack your own parachute", or "if you want the job done right, you have to do it yourself" applies, and you should pre-operatively inspect your bike for loose bolts/nuts before and after any off-road mountain biking, as bolts/nuts can loosen with vibration, and thus the failure could be entirely due to such vibration/loosening.
Also if you squeezed too hard on the brakes, it's possibe you could have snapped a brake cable, although this is less likely.
Lastly bikes have 2 brakes, so if one fails, you should be able to stop safely with the other, although this is less true for steep off-road downhill descents.
 
I agree

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