Privity, design uniformity, and contributory negligence jointly immunized manufacturers from liability.

Evidence

In the second scenario, David Larsen, the driver of the Corvair, also would not have collected damages under the second regime. Like the Henningsens, he had no contract with the car’s manufacturer and so did not meet the requirement of privity of contract. In addition, the collision that led to his injury did not result from a defect in the manufacture of the car; all Corvairs had the same steering column. Finally, Larsen’s injury occurred partly because of driver error, and thus the doctrine of contributory negligence, under which plaintiffs are barred from redress if their actions contributed to an injury, immunized General Motors. — G. Alan Tarr, Judicial Process and Judicial…, 3443

Categorization

• XREF: Larsen v. General Motors later established crashworthiness liability — the case this passage explains the loss of under the old regime.
• DEFINE: Restates privity of contract and contributory negligence as operative immunizing doctrines.