Chicago Injury Law Blog

In 1993, Patricia Anderson and her four children were rear ended in their Chevy Malibu. The impact caused the fuel tank to leak, and the gas ignited setting the car ablaze. Everyone in the car was seriously burned, with 3 of the 4 children sustaining burns over 60% of their body.
The subsequent lawsuit revealed that the fuel tank design on the car was unreasonably dangerous. GM could have designed a safer fuel tank for $8.59 per car, but decided for a cheaper design. A GM memo used at the trial estimated that post-collision fuel tank fires would cost GM $2.40 per car, estimating that each human life "has a value of $200,000."
In essence, for an extra $6 per car profit, GM was willing to let its consumers occasionally burn to death in post-collision fuel tank
fires.

Read more here.

Gary Skinner died at the age of 48, crushed to death when his 1999 Ford Ranger rolled over and the roof collapsed in on him. Even more troubling than the man's death is the fact that the auto industry knew as far back as 1966 that the roof support was inadequate to protect the car's passengers.
A General Motors document recently made public indicates that the problem of inadequate roof support could have been fixed with an addition costing $43.13.

Read more here.

A Florida jury ordered Ford Motor Co. to pay $61 million to the parents of an 18-year-old boy who was killed during a rollover of a 1996 Ford Explorer sport-utility vehicle, a lawyer for the family said. The state court jury in Miami awarded the $61 million in compensatory damages and didn't award punitive damages, said attorney Bruce Kaster. The lawsuit is one of hundreds facing Ford over claims of defects in the Explorer. In the Florida case, the family claimed Ford ignored its engineers' advice on how to improve the Explorer's stability and failed to correct a flaw in the vehicle's suspension.