It was recently announced that the family of a teenager who was killed in a car accident was awarded $40 million as a result of their lawsuit against Kia Motors. The family filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Kia, claiming that the seat belts in the teenage girl’s Kia Sephia were defective and should have been recalled. The young girl was killed in 2004. As a Weston Car Accident Lawyer, a case like this is very tough to read about, especially when the company allegedly could have avoided this awful situation by initiating a recall. Recalling the seat belts could have potentially saved this teenage girl’s life.
According to the wrongful death lawsuit filed by the family, Kia had already issued recalls for several seat belts in various Kia models such as the 1995 to 1998 Kia Sephia and Kia Sportage. However, they did not recall the 1999 Kia Sephia model that this girl was driving. The issue with the seat belts was that the latching system was defective, meaning the person in the seat thought they were safely buckled, when in reality, they might not have been. This, in combination with federal inquiries, led Kia to recall 189,000 vehicles in 2002, but still not the 1999 Kia Sephia. As a Weston Car Accident Attorney, these details are disturbing since it appears that Kia had ample opportunity to rectify the situation before this disaster had occurred.
Finally, in 2004 Kia was asked to submit the seat buckles for testing, which it never did. One month after the teenage girl was killed in the car accident, Kia recalled an additional 251,000 cars, including the 1999 Kia Sephia. From the perspective of a Weston Accident Lawyer, the details of this case seem to speak volumes. This large corporation with ample financial resources had years to prevent something like this from occurring, yet it was uncooperative. This is truly a sad story, yet unfortunately in the world of personal injury lawsuits, it is still somewhat common.
The Schulman Law Group is a personal injury law firm located in Weston, FL that is committed to representing personal injury victims, including victims of Weston, FL car accidents. Please visit our website at www.schulaw.com. For a free consultation, please call us at (877) LAW-0444 or email us.
