Cite as: 520 U. S. 875 (1997)
Opinion of the Court
liability should be supplanted merely because the user/ reseller may in theory incur an overlapping liability in contract.
Respondents make two other important arguments. First, they say that our reasoning proves too much. They argue that, if a Subsequent User can recover for damage a defective manufactured product causes to property added by the Initial User, then a user might recover for damage a defective component causes the manufactured product, other than the component itself. Saratoga Fishing, for example, could recover the damage the defective hydraulic system caused to any other part of the ship. But the lower courts, following East River, have held that it is not a component part, but the vessel—as placed in the stream of commerce by the manufacturer and its distributors—that is the "product" that itself caused the harm. See Shipco 2295, Inc. v. Avondale Shipyards, Inc., 825 F. 2d 925, 928 (CA5 1987); see also, e. g., National Union Fire Ins. Co. of Pittsburgh v. Pratt & Whitney Canada, Inc., 107 Nev. 535, 539-542, 815 P. 2d 601, 604-605 (1991). As the Court said in East River:
" 'Since all but the very simplest of machines have component parts, [a contrary] holding would require a finding of "property damage" in virtually every case where a product damages itself. Such a holding would eliminate the distinction between warranty and strict products liability.' " 476 U. S., at 867 (quoting Northern Power & Engineering Corp. v. Caterpillar Tractor Co., 623 P. 2d 324, 330 (Alaska 1981)).
Our holding here, however, does not affect this rule, for the relevant relations among initial users, manufacturers, and component suppliers are typically different from those at issue here. Initial users, when they buy, typically depend upon, and likely seek warranties that depend upon, a manufacturer's primary business skill, namely, the assembly of workable product components into a marketable whole.
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