Most cars used to be ridiculously easy to steal, and people dealt with this situation in a variety of ways. Suing the car manufacturers was not one of these methods.

I don't think your phone analogy is at all comparable. A phone catching fire during what anyone might consider normal use isn't the same kind of product design issue as a car that is no easier to steal than most cars were for most of the history of cars. The old covertible that I had years ago would have been way easier to steal than these cars, for example, both because of simple wiring and simple access to the car interior.

We can pass the blame for this issue around pretty widely. I don't think we should just pin all the blame on the car makers