The U.S. Supreme Court is weighing a seat-belt case that could have wide ramifications for consumer lawsuits filed on safety issues.
The nation’s highest court heard arguments last week in the case involving Mazda Motor Corp., and the panel may split in its opinion.
The issue is whether or not accident victims should have the right to sue even when a car maker has met the minimum federal safety standards required by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, NHTSA.
During the session, Justice Sonia Sotomayer said that these minimum standards still give car makers many options, while Justice John Roberts suggested that the ability to sue should remain limited.
According to Bloomberg News, the automakers want the high court to essentially reaffirm a 2000 ruling that found that “federal law shields automakers from state law claims that manufacturers didn’t move quickly enough to install air bags in the years before they became mandatory in new cars.”
The genesis of the Mazda case was the 2002 death of Thahn Williamson, 32, who was killed while riding in the rear aisle seat in the second row of a 1993 minivan in Utah. Her family sued Mazda because Williamson only had a lap seat belt without a shoulder harnass when the van hit a motor home that broke free from the Jeep that was towing it.
It wasn’t until 2007 that a law took effect that mandated that new cars be equipped with shoulder restraints in all forward-facing seats.