Carmakers could be exposed to a barrage of consumer lawsuits if the US Supreme Court agrees that an accident victim’s family can file a suit against Mazda Motor Corp. over the type of seatbelts fitted in a 1993 MPV minivan.
To decide on this matter, the justices will have to revisit the scope of a 2000 decision that indicated that federal law protects carmakers from claims under state product-liability law that they should have switched more quickly to add air bags. In fact, the lower courts that considered the issue concluded that seatbelt-design suits are similarly barred.
For the Supreme Court to mull over this case is unusual but then again, the justices are doing so at the request of US Solicitor General Elena Kagan, whom President Barack Obama has since nominated for the court.
Kagan said that lower courts “repeatedly have over-read” the 2000 ruling to mean that federal safety regulations for seatbelts prohibit consumer lawsuits that attempt to hold the carmakers to higher standards. She reasoned that the lower courts’ view is inconsistent with that of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which sets motor vehicle safety standards.
The argument is focused on the use of two-point seatbelts (lap belts without a shoulder strap). Before 1989, the NHTSA allowed these two-point seatbelts in some minivan seats. Three-point belts were required in 1989 but only for the outboard seats (those next to a window).
[via autonews – sub. required]
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