During a frontal car collision, cargo from the rear hit the vehicle’s seatback, which caused it to break from its mounts and collapse forward on to three young children who were properly seat belted. Two were seriously injured and one rendered quadriplegic. Don Fountain and the Clark Fountain team were asked to determine whether any potential defect contributed to the tragic accident. While there is no federal standard requiring seat back strength in the United States, a confidential settlement was reached with the manufacturer thanks to the firm’s development of an easily overlooked design defect theory.