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Products Liability Keyed Owen, 8th Ed.
Quintana-Ruiz v. Hyundai Motor Corp.
Citation:
303 F.3d 62 (2002)Facts
On August 10, 1996, fifteen-year-old Ines Reyes-Quintana was a passenger in a 1996 Hyundai Accent driven by her brother. When a slower-moving Nissan station wagon crossed into their lane, the Hyundai braked but rear-ended the Nissan at a speed differential of about 30 miles per hour. The passenger-side airbag deployed as designed, striking Reyes-Quintana’s raised arm and fracturing it in four places. These injuries required three surgeries and resulted in some permanent loss of strength and scarring. The accident reconstruction expert estimated the Barrier Equivalent Velocity (BEV) of the accident at 14-16 mph and the Delta V at 15-17 mph. The Hyundai’s airbag was designed to deploy in accidents with a BEV of 12 or greater. Both expert witnesses, retained by Hyundai, testified that airbags provide greater overall safety benefits than risks at this deployment threshold, and that no alternative design existed that would maintain the same level of protection while reducing risks. The plaintiff presented no contradictory expert testimony.
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