A manufacturer warranty is offered to buyers and consumers as a promise that the seller backs its product against certain defects and is bound by the manufacturer/factory warranty to replace, repair, or reimburse customers for damages that occur to a certain extent.
In a scenario where Bree bought a product and during or after consumption, a foreign element was found in the content of the product manufactured by Adrian with warrantee which caused some sort of harm, the law will hardly exonerate the manufacturer as the law presumes the manufacturer to foresee that kind of harm will occur.
There exists a duty of care to be imposed by the law on a manufacturer to
the buyer or consumer. And in the preparation, production, and supply of the products, the manufacturer is required by the law to have reasonable foresight and contemplate the effect of their products on the ultimate consumer.
The principles governing the manufacturer’s warranty and sellers’ warranty are that of tort because the duties are principally fixed by law towards persons generally. See, BABALOLA V. APPLE INC. (2021) 15 N.W.L.R. (PT.1799) PG 193 @ 228, PARA A.
A manufacturer of products, which he sells in such a form as to show that he intends the products to reach the ultimate consumer in the form in which they left him and within a timeframe, with no reasonable possibility of intermediate examination, and with the knowledge that the absence of reasonable care in the manufacturing of the products will result in an injury to the consumer’s life or property, owes a duty to the consumer to take reasonable care in manufacturing the product.
Thus, once it is shown that the product reached the ultimate consumer intact and that he was injured by the product as a result of its harmful nature, the consumer will be entitled to reparation from the manufacturer.
See, OKWEJIMINOR V. GBAKEJI (2008) 5 NWLR (PT 1079) PG 172 @221 PARA B-C.
Given the fact that the warranty is built into the price of the goods, manufacturers should take reasonable care during production.
