GM Faces $100 Million Tire Pressure Lawsuit in Texas
GM is facing a $100 million lawsuit over a defective tire pressure monitoring system that allowed a tire to blow out. The resulting accident cost a grandmother and two of her grandchildren their lives. Now, the family wants to recover damages from the automaker under the theory of product liability and negligence. They say the defective TPMS (tire pressure monitoring system) was responsible for the accident that cost three people their lives.
Product Liability and Auto Manufactures
It is a part of your warranty that when an automaker advertises a safety feature—any safety feature—the customer has a right to assume that the safety feature is working the way it’s supposed to. TMPSs are expected to alert a driver when their tire pressure is too low or too high. Either can be extremely dangerous.
Over-inflated tires have a propensity to blow out when they cross an uneven section of road, a pothole, or some for road debris. Under-inflated tires gradually become weaker the longer you drive on them. Eventually, the tire’s chronic bowing results in a weakening of the bond between the treads and the tire casing, which causes tread separation, which causes the tire to blow out.
The reason why tire blowout accidents are so dangerous is that once the tire blows out, the vehicle starts pulling heavily in that direction. The natural response to such an occurrence is to try to swerve into the opposite and brake suddenly. This often results in the vehicle rolling over several times before coming to a stop. In other words, even though this is a very intuitive thing to do, it isn’t the best option or even a very good one.
GM’s Liability
The plaintiffs will claim that because GM’s tire pressure monitoring system failed, that GM is responsible for the deaths. Without knowing more about the story, it’s hard to say whether or not their case has merit. Looking at the bare facts, the plaintiffs will need to show that the failure of the TPMS directly resulted in a failure to adequately service the tires or notice a leak. Obviously, that’s a sound argument if the facts are there to support it. Leaks happen all the time. You drive over a nail after your neighbor had their roof done. Your TPMS alerts you to the leak. You fix the tire. That’s how it’s supposed to work. So any failure in that sequence of responses is cause to claim that the company that produced the defective product should have caught the problem before it entered the stream of commerce. Had they, there would be three more people who didn’t lose their lives.
Talk to a Florida Defective Auto Part Attorney
Car companies are responsible for accidents when their safety features don’t function as advertised. Call the Coral Gables tire defect attorneys at Halpern, Santos & Pinkert today to schedule a free consultation and learn more about how we can help you recover damages related to your injuries.
Resource:
law360.com/transportation/articles/1368715/gm-sued-for-100m-over-deadly-crash-tied-to-tire-pressure
