What the insurance company does not want you to know is that the biggest mistake is treating this like an ordinary car wreck claim. If a recalled brake part caused or worsened the crash, the case value can be much higher because you may have claims against the manufacturer, the seller, and sometimes the installer, not just the other driver.

There is no fixed Hawaii payout chart, but a Kaneohe brake-failure case can range from tens of thousands to six figures or more depending on what the defective part did. A claim is worth more when the failure caused a head-on crash, a divided-highway crossover, or a serious downhill wreck like the brake-loss crashes seen on the steep grades near the Likelike Highway tunnel.

In Hawaii, product cases are often pursued under strict liability. That matters because you usually do not have to prove the manufacturer was careless in the everyday sense. You need to show the part was defective and that the defect caused the injury or made it worse.

The numbers usually turn on:

• Medical bills, including trauma care at The Queen's Medical Center
• Future treatment, rehab, mobility equipment, and prescriptions
• Lost income or household help costs
• Pain, disability, and loss of independence
• Whether the part was under an official recall
• Whether a shop installed the wrong part or ignored recall work

For someone on Medicare or Social Security, the net amount matters as much as the gross amount. Medicare may seek reimbursement from a settlement for crash-related treatment, so a $75,000 settlement does not mean $75,000 in hand.

In Hawaii, the usual deadline for injury claims is 2 years under HRS § 657-7. The smart approach is to preserve the vehicle and the failed part immediately. Do not let the insurer total it out and send it to salvage before the brakes, calipers, master cylinder, or tire component are inspected. If the seller, automaker, and installer start blaming each other, that usually means the defective-product angle is real.