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You May Have A Defective Seat Belt |
A Mobile, Alabama jury has returned a $40 million verdict in favor of the parents of a Mobile County teenager who was killed in a car wreck in 2004. The jury award came in a wrongful death lawsuit against Kia Motors and the maker of a seat belt buckle that failed. The girl was ejected from her car on a highway in west Mobile on July 4, 2004.
The high school student was driving a 1999 Kia Sephia that her father had bought for her 16th birthday, just two months prior to the accident. Kia officials knew that the seat belts in the 1999 model were defective but did not include them in a recall. This is yet another example of major corporations putting profits ahead of consumer safety and this conduct is happening in the board rooms of major corporations consistently. However, this Alabama jury sent a message that all of the greedy corporations should listen to, and that is that we are going to hold you responsible if you continue this conduct in Alabama.