Two clocks, and the second one is unusual

The statute of limitations

The ordinary personal injury deadline, commonly two years, running from the date of injury. Some states apply a discovery rule where a defect-caused injury wasn't immediately apparent — relevant to toxic exposure and latent conditions, less so to a fire or a machine failure.

The statute of repose

This is the unusual one. Some states cut off product claims a fixed number of years after the product was first sold or delivered — regardless of when the injury happened. Where one applies, a machine sold twenty years ago may be beyond claim even if it injured you yesterday.

Other deadlines worth knowing

Several situations shorten or complicate the analysis.

• Breach of warranty claims may run under the commercial code rather than tort law, sometimes from the date of sale rather than injury
• Government entities require a formal notice of claim within a short administrative window where the product was supplied or operated by one
• Wrongful death deadlines are often shorter and run from the date of death
• Deadlines for minors are typically tolled, but the product won't wait
• Some medical device claims are affected by federal preemption, which changes what's available rather than when

The evidence clock, again

The legal deadlines are usually years out. The product gets thrown away in weeks, the scene gets cleared in days, and the vehicle gets crushed in a month. In this category more than any other, the practical deadline is far shorter than the legal one.