Jury Finds for Ford in Sudden Acceleration Suit
DEARBORN, Mich.
& SAN JOSE, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--March 6, 2003-- On Friday,
February 28, a Sacramento County jury returned a verdict in favor of
Ford Motor Company, finding that a 1989 Ford Taurus had no defect in
the design of its cruise control system, door latch and seat belt, as
claimed by Carolyn Watts. The jury returned its verdict in less than
two hours after an eight-week trial.
The accident happened
on September 6, 1998, when plaintiff Carolyn Watts intended to back
out of a driveway in her 1989 Ford Taurus. Watts claimed she was seat
belted with her door closed, and the car "just took off" when
she shifted into reverse. The car accelerated out of the driveway, across
the street and into a house. Watts was found partially outside the open
driver's door with her seat belt unbuckled. She sustained severe injuries
to her left leg, requiring multiple surgeries and incurring $330,000
in medical expenses. Her damages experts claimed nearly $1 million for
her costs of future care. Plaintiffs' counsel asked the jury to award
$4.5 million in compensatory damages to Philemon and Carolyn Watts.
Plaintiffs' claimed
the car accelerated because of design defects in the cruise control
system that allowed "transient" electrical signals to activate
the cruise control while the car was standing still, leaving no evidence
behind to explain what happened. They also claimed the car door was
defective in design and that it "inertially unlatched" during
the accident. Finally, they claimed the seat belt was defective in design
and that Watts inadvertently unbuckled the belt during the accident.
Plaintiffs sought
punitive damages on their sudden acceleration claim, alleging Ford committed
malice and fraud in its investigation of sudden acceleration reports
in the 1980s. Ford's investigation, corroborated by findings of a yearlong
industry-wide investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration,
concluded in most cases sudden acceleration incidents are caused by
the driver mistakenly stepping on the accelerator pedal instead of the
brake. Ford, along with all other auto manufacturers, responded by installing
brake shift interlocks that require drivers to have their foot on the
brake as they shift from park into gear. Installation of brake shift
interlocks nearly eliminated reports of sudden acceleration throughout
the auto industry.
Ford presented evidence
at trial of its own extensive investigation of reports of sudden acceleration
incidents. Ford ruled out the cruise control as the cause because redundancies
in the system made it virtually impossible for the cruise control to
be activated when a vehicle is standing still. Ford's electrical engineering
expert explained the redundancies, backups and fail-safes in the design
of the cruise control system, as well as the brake system, which would
have stopped the car very quickly if Watts had stepped hard on the brake
pedal, as she believed she had. Although plaintiffs were allowed to
introduce into evidence the testimony of several other people who believed
they had experienced sudden acceleration incidents, as well as documentation
of other alleged incidents, the jury found no defect in the cruise control
system.
Plaintiffs' experts
had found no evidence of any malfunction in the seat belt or door latch.
Ford's experts presented evidence that Watts most likely had never closed
the door, had her left foot outside the car before the car began to
move, and had either never buckled her belt or had unbuckled it herself
at some point before or after the accident. The jury found no defect
in either system.
Attorneys for the
defense were: Janice O'Grady, of Bowman and Brooke LLP in San Jose,
and James J. Yukevich, of Yukevich & Sonnett in Los Angeles.
Attorneys for the
plaintiffs were: David Mackenroth of Mackenroth, Ryan and Fong in Sacramento,
and Patrick Murray, of Murray & Murray in Sandusky, Ohio
Experts for the
defense were:
Victor Declercq, cruise control, Macomb, MI
David Mercaldi, Ph.D., accident reconstruction, Boxborough, MA
Daniel Girvan, biomechanical engineering, Palo Alto, CA
Thomas Tiede, door latch, Huntington Beach, CA
Roger Burnett, seat belt, Dearborn, MI
Experts for the
plaintiffs were:
William Berg, Ph.D., human factors and accident reconstruction, Madison,
WI
Gary Derian, cruise control, Columbus, OH
Andrew Gilberg, door latch, Kennesaw, GA
Keith Friedman, seat belt, Santa Barbara, CA
Alex Barchuk, MD, rehabilitation, Kentfield, CA
Carol Hyland, costs of care, Lafayette, CA
Michael Ueltzen, economics, Sacramento, CA
Judge: Maryanne
Gilliard
Court: Sacramento County Superior Court
Case #: 99AS04959
Go to http://media.ford.com
for news releases and high-resolution photographs.
Contact:
Bowman and Brooke LLP
Amanda Walsh, 612/672-3248,
awalsh@bowman-brooke.com
or
Ford Motor Company
Kathleen Vokes, 313/322-9210
kvokes@ford.com
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