Do you ever NOT think like an lawyer?
Go outside and enjoy the sunlight a little.
I think more like a guy who grew up in Alabama and have seen people hurt and killed by playing with their toys in a way that is unsafe, and making unsafe decisions. I have known people who have been shot, who have lost limbs to winch cables snapping, who have lost fingers and hands to guns, chainsaws, and fireworks, lost eyes, died on fourwheelers, drowned, and flipped cars and died. That's my background on the subject, and combined with raising my own son, I was only pointing out to you the inherent and unnecessary danger of what you were doing THE SECOND TIME. If you think I'm wrong, or being a nanny about it, that's your prerogative. I don't really care. I am amused that you would pack everything in the whole entire world into your little hiking survival pack, but won't use a little common sense to avoid an unnecessary, serious, and potentially life-threatening situation. You had been made aware that there was a problem, yet you persisted. Sounds more like an ego thing to me.
Anyway, if you want me to think like a lawyer, here you go:
1. you were put on NOTICE that you had a possible defect in your vehicle and that there was a high likelihood of HARM that occur to yourself or your passenger as a result of that defective condition.
2. notwithstanding that NOTICE, you persisted in your behavior, unnecessarily endangering yourself and your passenger.
That's my take on it. I'm sorry I come across as some handwringing worrier, but I'm not. I've just seen what happens when people don't understand the gravity of what they're doing.