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Supreme Court Rules on Air Bag Case

23 May 2000

5 to 4 Ruling in Favor of Automakers in Geier v American Honda Motor Company

    Washington, DC - On Monday the US Supreme Court ruled that automakers may 
not be sued for failing to provide air bags in vehicles manufactured prior to 
mandatory installation dates.  The ruling was handed down in the Geier v 
American Honda Motor Company lawsuit, in which the plaintiff attempted to 
sue American Honda for building and selling a 'defective' car, since it was not 
equipped with an air bag.  Ms. Geier was driving a friend's 1987 Honda Accord 
when she crashed into a tree and suffered disfiguring facial and head injuries.  
Attorneys for Geier argued that had the vehicle been equipped with an air bag 
the injuries would have been lessened or avoided.

    However, in 1987 Federal safety standards didn't mandate the use of driver 
side air bags, only that they use at least one of several options available to 
them (Honda chose seat belts).  The ruling will most likely affect and 
eliminate hundreds of personal injury lawsuits that are currently pending in 
various state courts.  The ruling should also have a preemptory effect on the 
initiation of hundreds of additional suits that would probably have been brought 
against automakers had the court ruled in favor of the plaintiffs.

    Erika Jones, one of Honda's attorneys, and former general counsel for the 
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, was quoted as saying, "This 
is a vote for common sense".


MJR