>If a car has a poorly-engineered suspension and a wheel breaks off and someone gets killed, does the engineer at Ford who designed it get sued personally?

I believe the laws differ by country. In the above circumstance where I am based (Australia) the person who signed off after reviewing the suspension design would inherit the liability. And may get taken to court where you would need to demonstrate you followed best practices may be ask to supply calculations etc.

For example my company we are required legally to keep things like calculations and technical drawings on file in archives for things like above hypothetical.