My electrics suddenly failed on a Ford Focus once and the power steering failed, with the steering becoming very heavy, almost impossible to turn. Luckily I was near a roundabout, so I had slowed down. The car restarted, with no problem experienced again. If I had been on a fast stretch of road, it might have been a different story.
My experience of dealing with a few accident claims, where manufacturing faults have been a factor, is that the Insurers will deal with the claim as normal. It is just an accident claim. If you cause the accident, even if there is an explanation, you are still at fault for the accident. After the claim is dealt with, if the Insurers find out that any legal or industry action is being taken against the manufacturer, they will look into what legal action they may take. Because of the cost of such legal claim, they will often not take action alone, but will join with others. About 20-30 years ago there was a particular car brand/model, which was alleged to have stability problems, when there were cross winds. Some accidents involved fatalities. I don't think the car manufacturer was ever taken to court, but there may have been out of court settlements, many years after the accidents. Often because of the complicated nature of court cases, Insurers and car manufacturers, may either not bother to get involved in an argument or just sort it out in private.