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Los Angeles Judge Rules Takato Seatbelts Are Safe in California Class Action Lawsuit

Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Maureen Duffy Lewis has ruled that a seatbelt installed in approximately 4 million cars in California is safe.
The $247 million lawsuit was brought against Takata Corporation related to its TK-52 seatbelts. Car owners in the state who brought the lawsuit claimed that the seatbelt was not sufficiently tested, causing its buckle to be prone to opening up in an accident. The plaintiffs represented owners of close to 80 automobile models fitted with the seatbelts. They claim that Tokyo-based Takata Corporation was guilty of misleading customers that the seatbelts were tested sufficiently. The class action lawsuit did not claim that there were any injuries because of the seatbelts, but claimed that the defective seatbelts could cause injuries in the future. The lawsuit claimed monetary damages as well as for the seatbelts recalled and retested.

This marks one of the last class action lawsuits pending against the company. Several such lawsuits had been filed in Tennessee, New Mexico, Arizona and Texas. All of these were dismissed earlier. All the lawsuits claimed that seatbelts opened on their own during an automobile accident.

In the California class action lawsuit, the claim was that the company has failed to test the seatbelts properly as required by the Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. The TK-52 is used on at least 80 separate automobile models. The judge has rejected the claim by ruling that Takata Corporation, as well as SGS US Testing Co. Inc., the consumer testing organization based in New Jersey, had tested the seatbelts.

Seatbelts have been some of the most effective safety features in modern automobiles. They have contributed to saving thousands of lives over the years, and have also reduced the severity of injuries caused in automobile accidents. However, defective seatbelts have been found to actually endanger the lives of the passengers and motorists they are expected to protect. Belts with buckles that open in the event of an accident can cause an unsuspecting passenger to be thrown against the windshield or the interior of the car. Besides, belts that appear to be latched, but actually aren’t, can also open up during impact. Seatbelts with additional slack can cause a person to be flung against the interior of the car, and not safely restrained, as one should be. When the webbing of the belt is of poor quality, the seatbelt can actually tear during impact rendering it useless.

In fact, defective seatbelts have been responsible for a large number of injuries caused during automobile accidents. Often, automobile manufacturers scrimp on proper testing of safety features like seatbelts and airbags to enable them to introduce these automobiles in the market quicker. This means that thousands of consumers are at risk for injuries caused by a defective seatbelt design.

The Reeves Law Group is a law firm with offices throughout California dedicated exclusively to the representation of personal injury victims, including victims of defective seatbelts. Please visit our website at trlglaw.com. If you desire a free consultation on a personal injury matter, please call us at (800) 644-8000 or email us.

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