A jury has put the brakes on a class action lawsuit against Irvine’s Kia Motors America Inc.
Last month, Kia, part of South Korea’s Hyundai Motor Co., prevailed in a trial over seatbelts in its 2001 and 2002 Sephia and Spectra cars.
The outcome was a big win for Kia, which settled two class action suits in 2005. The seatbelt case could have cost Kia about $2.5 million in damages, according to Mark Goldzweig, Kia’s in-house lawyer.
“Our goal was to send a clear message that we will try class action cases,” he said. “If we had lost, our damages could’ve been very large. But we did the right thing.”
The suit, which was filed in 2004 by Johnette Alexander and San Diego’s Rosner & Mansfield LLP, charged that seatbelts in the cars were defective because they didn’t fit large people.
None of the Kia owners in the lawsuit were injured by the seatbelts.
The suit, representing some 12,000 people, sought damages and lawyers’ fees. It also wanted Kia to make longer seatbelts or provide seatbelt extenders.
A call to Rosner & Mansfield wasn’t returned. It’s unclear whether the firm plans to appeal.
An Orange County Superior Court jury found that Kia’s seatbelts are regulated by the federal government’s National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and meet or exceed government standards.
“The government has looked at whether cars should have seatbelts that fit everybody,” Goldzweig said. “But the fact is one size doesn’t fit all. People need to buy the vehicles that fit their needs and sizes.”
Kia’s win marks the first time the automaker has been able to avoid a settlement or payout related to its Sephia model.
For more on this story, see the July 9 edition of the Business Journal.
