Air Bag Deployment – Ford – F-150 – Truck – Air Bags – complaints - injuries

NATIONAL - The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has opened an investigation into unnecessary air-bag deployments that could affect as many as 530,000 Ford F-150 pickups.

The agency says it has received eight (8) complaints from owners of 2005 models saying the driver’s side air bag deployed “during ignition or seconds after the engine had started.” Some complained of burns or bruises as a result of the air bag deployment.

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$8.5 MILLION DOLLAR VERDICT IN SUV ROLL-OVER

NATIONAL - A woman was awarded $8.5 million dollars in Ford SUV rollover - product liability case. The month long trial from 2005 centered around a rollover wreck of a Mercury Mountaineer (Ford) near Douglasville, Georgia. The accident killed two people and injured two others. The driver had her right leg amputated just below the knee and her left arm is paralyzed as a result of the accident. She also suffered a brain injury.

The jury heard testimony that a car had tried to get over into the SUV's lane. The SUV swerved into the left lane to avoid the car and when it attempted to go back right, the SUV flipped and rolled over four-and-a-half times.

The jury began deliberating just after 10 a.m. and returned a verdict about 2 p.m. finding that the Mercury Mountaineer built by Ford, was defectively designed and, as a result, was unreasonably prone to rollover.

Ford nearly always appeals large verdicts and will almost certainly do so in this case.