Comments on: Flax v. DaimlerChrysler seat back appeal

By: Breaking: Tennessee Supreme Court reinstates punitive damages in Flax v. DaimlerChrysler

Thu, 24 Jul 2008 19:22:39 +0000

[…] Perhaps we spoke too soon when we commended the Tennessee appellate court for getting it partially right. As we stated in November 2004: In 2001, Louis Stockell, driving his pickup at 70 mph, twice the speed limit, rear-ended a Chrysler minivan. Physics being what they are, the front passenger seat in the van collapsed backwards and the passenger’s head struck and fatally injured 8-month old Joshua Flax. The rest of the family walked away from the horrific accident. Plaintiffs’ attorney Jim Butler argued that Chrysler, which already designed its seats above federal standards, should be punished for not making the seats stronger — never mind that a stronger and stiffer seat would result in more injuries from other kinds of crashes because it wouldn’t absorb any energy from the crash. (Rear-end collisions are responsible for only 3% of auto fatalities.) Apparently car companies are expected to anticipate which type of crash a particular vehicle will encounter, and design accordingly. The $105M verdict includes $98M in punitives. […]

By: William Nuesslein

William Nuesslein — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 23:59:00 +0000

Ted,

Most of the weight of the passenger would be accelerated forward by the bottom of the seat. There is a pivot at the seat belt and a torque that is applied to the back of the seat. Much of the energy of this torque would be dissipated in breaking the back of the seat. In my opinion there would not be a cannonball effect on the passenger’s head as there would be on the child’s head if the child were not securely harnessed. If the child was thrown forward, then he might have been killed by hitting the back of the front seat or any hard object as well as hitting the head of the passenger. To me the failure of the front seat is a red haring. Maybe somebody who works with crash dummy experiments can help us out.

My car was hit in the side in the 1960’2 and my son, who was in the back seat area, got a pretty good rap on his head from the door frame. I quickly installed seat belts myself.

By: Ted Frank

Ted Frank — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 13:08:31 +0000

WN: vehicle moves forward from impact; seat attached to vehicle moves forward against the weight of passenger who remains in same place due to inertia; this places rearward force on seat. If passenger is heavy enough or force of impact is high enough, seat will collapse backward.

By: William Nuesslein

William Nuesslein — Sun, 15 Jun 2008 12:13:01 +0000

The minivan was hit from behind and there was a substantial force pushing material forward. What would have accelerated the front passenger’s head backwards? (Physics being what they are.) Isn’t it much more reasonable that the crash threw the child’s head at the passenger? In that case, the strength of the front seat is immaterial.

That only one died or was even hurt badly in this event is a tribute to the engineering of the minivan. The judge and jury in this case should be whipped in public!

By: AMcA

AMcA — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 19:49:13 +0000

I bet the defense fees exceeded the final judgment amount by a WIDE margin.

By: Deoxy

Deoxy — Fri, 13 Jun 2008 15:48:59 +0000

Now it’s more of the normal “just a travesty of justice” rather than the “extreme travesty of justice” that it was before, which is at least a bit of improvement.