Can I File a Lawsuit if I Wasn’t Wearing a Seatbelt in Texas?

The seatbelt defense in Texas personal injury cases is a legal strategy used by insurance adjusters to reduce a victim’s compensation by arguing that the victim’s failure to wear a seatbelt, rather than the crash itself, caused their severe injuries. Many accident victims in San Antonio and Bexar County mistakenly believe they automatically forfeit their right to a settlement if they were not buckled up at the moment of impact.

Insurance companies exploit this confusion to save money. They know that while seatbelt compliance is high, observed at 86.9% in San Antonio in 2025, drivers who fall outside this majority are vulnerable to intimidation (TTI, 2025). Adjusters often pressure these victims to accept a denial or lowball offer because they feel guilty, even when the accident was clearly not their fault.

We don’t let them get away with that. This page explains how Texas Proportionate Responsibility laws protect your legal options, allowing you to recover damages as long as you were not more than 50% at fault. We clarify the critical difference between causing the accident versus causing the injury, ensuring you aren’t blamed for a wreck you didn’t cause.

Don’t let a safety violation cost you your financial recovery. Call us at 210-TREVINO today for a free consultation. We fight to prove the crash caused your pain, not your seatbelt choice. Se Habla Español.

Can You Still File a Lawsuit or Sue if You Weren’t Wearing a Seatbelt?

Yes, you can still file a lawsuit and recover damages in Texas if you were not wearing a seatbelt, provided you were not more than 50% responsible for the cause of the accident. While your compensation may be reduced by the percentage of fault assigned to you for not buckling up, the failure to wear a seatbelt does not automatically stop you from filing a car accident claim for your medical bills and lost wages.

The seatbelt defense in Texas personal injury cases is a common legal strategy used by insurance adjusters to devalue legitimate claims. Insurers aggressively deploy this defense because the statistical correlation between non-use and injury severity is high; in 2024 alone, there were 1,076 unrestrained fatalities recorded across the state (TxDOT, 2025). They will argue that your injuries are your own fault simply because you weren’t wearing a belt.

However, under Texas Civil Practice and Remedies Code Chapter 33, this is a question of proportionate responsibility, not a total bar to recovery. This standard was cemented by the Texas Supreme Court in Nabors Well Services, Ltd. v. Romero, 456 S.W.3d 553 (Tex. 2015). In this landmark decision, the Court ruled that while evidence of seatbelt non-use is admissible to determine who is responsible for the injuries, it does not absolve a negligent driver of liability for causing the accident.

This means that even if a jury finds you shared some fault for your injuries, the driver who ran the red light on Culebra Road remains liable for their reckless actions.

How Does the Texas Proportionate Responsibility Law Affect My Claim?

Under the 51% Bar Rule, or modified comparative negligence, you can recover damages as long as you are not found to be more than 50% at fault for your injuries. This means that even if a jury assigns some blame to you for not wearing a seatbelt, you are still entitled to compensation if the other driver holds the majority of the responsibility.

We explain this math clearly to our clients because it directly impacts their financial recovery. For example, if a San Antonio jury awards you $100,000 but finds you 30% responsible for not buckling up (meaning you were partially at fault), you would receive $70,000. If they find you 51% responsible, you receive $0. Our goal is to minimize the percentage of fault attributed to you by proving that the violence of the impact would have caused catastrophic injuries regardless of seatbelt usage.

How Adjusters Use the “Seatbelt Defense” to Shift Liability

The “Seatbelt Defense” is a tactic in which adjusters argue that your injuries would have been minor or nonexistent if you had followed the law and worn a seatbelt. Insurance companies like Geico or Progressive use this argument to claim you “failed to mitigate damages,” effectively trying to shift blame from their negligent driver to you.

To support this defense, insurers often hire biomechanical experts to testify that a seatbelt would have prevented your specific injuries. They often rely on broad state data, such as the 1,069 unbuckled drivers and passengers killed on Texas roadways in 2024, to generalize that the lack of a belt is the sole cause of death or injury (TxDOT, 2024). They may claim that your broken bones or head trauma resulted solely from ejection or interior impact that a belt would have stopped. We counter this by retaining our own experts to demonstrate the immense forces involved in the collision, proving that the crash itself, not the lack of a belt, was the primary cause of your suffering.

Understanding how responsibility is shared is critical, but we must also distinguish between who caused the crash and who caused the injury.

Does Not Wearing a Seatbelt Mean I Caused the Accident?

No, failing to wear a seatbelt does not cause a car crash; it only potentially affects the severity of the injuries sustained during the collision. The act of not buckling up does not make a driver run a red light, speed, or text while driving, meaning the negligence that caused the impact remains with the driver who violated traffic laws.

This is the “Causation Pivot” we use in litigation. If a drunk driver runs a red light on Loop 410 and slams into your vehicle, they caused the accident. Your seatbelt status is irrelevant to the cause of the collision itself. We fight to ensure the jury understands that the defendant’s negligence is the sole cause of the crash.

Distinguishing between “Crash Causation” (them) and “Injury Causation” (shared) is vital. Insurance adjusters try to blur this line to confuse you, but we keep the focus on the defendant’s reckless actions that led to the impact.

How Do We Prove the Other Driver Caused the Crash Despite Your Seatbelt Status?

We utilize accident reconstruction experts and electronic data to prove the defendant’s actions were the primary cause of the impact, regardless of whether you were buckled up. By scientifically reconstructing the accident sequence, we can demonstrate that the collision was unavoidable due to the other driver’s negligence.

To build this proof, we focus on preserving objective evidence immediately after the wreck. This includes:

• Black Box Data: We send spoliation letters to preserve the Event Data Recorder (EDR) information from the defendant’s vehicle, which shows speed and braking patterns.
• Physical Evidence: We analyze skid marks and debris fields on roads like I-37 to establish the point of impact.
• Witness Testimony: We secure statements from bystanders who saw the defendant’s reckless driving.

Even if you were unbuckled, if an 18-wheeler rear-ends you on a highway, their failure to stop is the primary negligence that dictates liability.

We have established that you didn’t cause the crash, but now we must address the specific financial consequences of the seatbelt argument.

How Much Does Not Wearing a Seatbelt Reduce Your Settlement?

Your settlement will be reduced by the exact percentage of fault a jury assigns to you for the failure to wear a seatbelt, known as comparative negligence. There is no fixed “ticket price” or standard deduction for this; the reduction depends entirely on how much the jury believes your non-use contributed to the severity of your specific injuries.

In a minor fender bender, the reduction might be 0% if the injuries are unrelated to seatbelt use. However, in a rollover ejection on I-35, a jury could find that the lack of a restraint contributed significantly to the harm, potentially reducing the award by 40% or more.

Trevino Injury Law aims to minimize this percentage by showing the violence of the crash would have injured you even with a belt. We use medical experts to prove that the forces involved were so severe that a seatbelt would not have prevented the primary trauma.

What Evidence Proves Seatbelt Use in a Car Accident?

Physical evidence from the vehicle’s Event Data Recorder (EDR) and specific bruising patterns often provides definitive proof of seatbelt use. Insurance companies will look for these indicators immediately to try to catch you in a lie or prove their defense.

We proactively investigate this evidence to protect your credibility. The most common forms of proof include:

• Loading Marks: Friction burns or melting on the seatbelt webbing that indicate it locked up under stress.
• EDR Data: The vehicle’s “black box” records whether the buckle switch was engaged at the time of impact.
• Seatbelt Sign: Distinctive diagonal bruising across the chest and hips caused by the restraint during a high-speed crash.

The adjuster claims you weren’t wearing it, but physical evidence is often the only way to settle the dispute definitively.

Is It Worth Hiring a Lawyer if I Wasn’t Wearing a Seatbelt?

Yes, hiring a trial attorney is even more critical when you were not wearing a seatbelt because insurance companies often attempt to deny your entire claim by unfairly shifting the blame onto you. An experienced lawyer prevents them from assigning you 51% of the fault, ensuring you remain eligible for financial compensation under Texas’s comparative fault laws.

Without a trial-ready law firm, insurers like Fred Loya or USAA (headquartered here in San Antonio) will almost certainly argue that your negligence was the primary cause of your injuries. This argument is particularly prevalent in our community, where the observed seatbelt usage rate of 86.9% trails the statewide average of 90.0%, giving insurers more opportunities to allege comparative fault here than elsewhere (TTI, 2025). Their goal is to convince the jury that you are more than 50% at fault, which would legally stop you from filing a claim or receiving a single dollar.

We use a “Scholar Warrior” approach to dismantle this strategy. By combining deep knowledge of San Antonio Bexar County court precedents with forensic crash data, we scientifically prove that the violence of the impact—caused by their driver—was the true source of your suffering. Experienced car accident lawyers can help ensure you are compensated for your medical bills and lost wages, rather than being penalized for a safety violation that didn’t cause the crash.

While securing the right representation protects your financial recovery, understanding the specific laws for passengers and children is equally important for establishing the full scope of liability.

What Are the Texas Seatbelt Laws for Passengers vs. Drivers?

Texas law requires all vehicle occupants, including drivers and passengers, to wear a seatbelt while the vehicle is in motion. While violating this statute constitutes “negligence per se” in traffic court, it does not automatically invalidate your civil claim for injuries; it merely establishes that a duty was breached, which the jury must then weigh against the other driver’s negligence.

In San Antonio, receiving a citation from the San Antonio Police Department for “Fail to ID – Seatbelt” does not mean you caused the crash. While the statutory fine for an adult offense is relatively low—ranging from $25 to $50—our job is to prevent the insurance adjuster from treating this ticket as proof that you deserve zero compensation for the life-altering injuries caused by their client’s reckless driving on Bandera Road (Texas Legislature, 2025).

Is it illegal to ride in the back seat without a seatbelt in Texas?

Yes, Texas law was updated to require all passengers, including those in the back seat, to wear a seatbelt regardless of their age.

Can a passenger be fined for not wearing a seatbelt in Texas?

Yes, adult passengers (age of 15 and older) can be individually fined for failure to wear a seatbelt, while the driver is legally responsible for ensuring passengers under 17 are buckled.

Can I get pulled over if my passenger isn’t wearing a seatbelt?

Yes, police in San Antonio and throughout Texas can stop a vehicle solely because a driver or passenger is visibly not wearing a seatbelt, known as a primary enforcement law.

Who Is Liable if a Child Was Not in a Car Seat During a Crash?

The driver of the vehicle is legally responsible for ensuring that all child passengers are properly secured in car seats or seatbelts appropriate for their height and weight. State law reinforces this seriousness by imposing a specific fine of $100 to $200 on drivers who fail to secure a passenger under 17 (Texas Legislature, 2025). If a child is injured in a car accident caused by another driver, the insurance company may attempt to blame the parent or guardian for the severity of the child’s injuries, effectively trying to reduce the payout for the child’s medical care.

These cases involve sensitive family liability issues. Even if the parent bears some responsibility for the lack of a car seat, the negligent driver who caused the collision—perhaps by speeding through a school zone in Leon Valley—remains the primary defendant. Trevino Injury Law handles these delicate situations carefully, ensuring that the child’s right to recovery for future medical needs is protected, even if it means navigating complex comparative fault rules involving family members.

What If the Seatbelt Was Defective or Failed During the Accident?

If you were wearing their seatbelt but it unlatched, tore, or failed to restrain you during the impact, you may have a product liability claim grounded in the ‘crashworthiness’ doctrine. As discussed in Hyundai Motor Co. v. Rodriguez, 995 S.W.2d 661 (Tex. 1999), Texas law holds manufacturers strictly liable if a vehicle defect, such as a faulty restraint system, causes injuries beyond those that would have occurred in the crash alone. This shifts the focus from your actions to the manufacturer’s failure to provide a crashworthy vehicle that protects occupants as promised.

We investigate these “seatbelt failure” cases by examining the latch mechanism and the integrity of the webbing. If a manufacturer like Ford or GM produced a defective restraint system that caused your ejection during a rollover, they can be held strictly liable for your injuries. This removes the “comparative negligence” reduction from your shoulders, as you did your part by buckling up.

Does the Seatbelt Defense Apply to Parked Cars or Low-Speed Impacts?

The seatbelt defense generally does not apply if the vehicle was legally parked or if the injured person was not required to be buckled at that specific moment. The duty to wear a seatbelt typically applies only when the vehicle is being operated on a public roadway, not when it is stationary or engaged in non-driving activities.

For example, if you are struck by another vehicle while loading groceries into your car in a parking lot, or if you are resting in the sleeper berth of a parked 18-wheeler, you are not legally required to be buckled. Insurance adjusters may still argue that you should have been more careful, but legally, the “seatbelt defense” holds no water in these situations. We ensure the jury understands that you had no duty to be restrained at the time of the impact.

Hire a San Antonio Personal Injury Lawyer to Fight the Seatbelt Defense

Texans generally know the law, but accidents happen. Texas law protects your right to compensation even if you weren’t wearing a seatbelt, but insurance adjusters will do everything possible to shift 51% of the blame onto you. Don’t let them deny your claim based on a safety violation that didn’t cause the accident.

At Trevino Injury Law, our San Antonio car accident lawyers use forensic evidence to prove the car crash caused your injuries, protecting your negotiation power and settlement from unfair reductions.

Take control of your case and your financial recovery. Call us at 210-TREVINO today. We offer a free, confidential consultation to discuss your options. Se Habla Español.