Ski Binding Safety Part I
Posted by John Sedgewick - 09/08/10 at 08:08 amAlpine ski binding technology has improved steadily since downhill skiing became a recreational sport after World War II. Bindings quickly went from “bear trap” designs that did not release at all to “safety bindings” that released when the skier fell forward, to bindings intended to release with twisting to the left and right and falls to the front or back. Better ski bindings have made downhill skiing a much safer sport. One binding problem that has not been eliminated is the problem of “inadvertent release”- which, more simply stated, means that a ski falls off when it shouldn’t. This is a serious problem because it can lead to the most serious forms of ski injury: head injury, paralysis and death. Some inadvertent release accidents are easily explained by mechanical failure of parts such as the heel cup, the plastic part that holds the heel of the boot down onto the ski. When it cracks or breaks, the heel comes free and the skier loses control. Many binding models have been recalled due to heel cup failure. Other inadvertent release accidents are explained by release force problems. The familiar binding adjustment known as a DIN setting raises or lowers the force at which a binding will release. The setting is calculated by a formula that takes into account the skier’s height, weight and skiing ability, generally releasing earlier for inexperienced skiers and later for expert skiers. Ski shops have methods for testing whether the bindings actually release at the expected force levels, and these tests should always be run in conjunction with sales of new skis and with ski rental transactions. If someone is hurt by inadvertent release and there is no obvious part failure, the ski patrol is likely to turn the skis over to the mountain’s rental shop to check the DIN settings and to test whether release occurs at the expected force level. If the DIN setting is not correct, or if the binding does not release at the expected force level, it may be fairly easy to articulate a product defect claim and to prove that improper setting or performance of the binding contributed to the injury. So what happens when a seriously injured skier reports inadvertent release but the DIN setting appears to be proper and the release forces appear to be as expected? It may be that the skier is simply wrong about inadvertent release, but it may also be that the binding is defective in that it lacks elasticity. This is an issue that counsel must explore carefully in an otherwise unexplained inadvertent release accident in which a skier has been seriously injured.
