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Litigation

: CalBizLit

Plaintiffs Lose Takada Seatbelt Buckle Case

By Bruce Nye

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In the mid-1990's, the National Highway Transportation Agency and many of the automobile manufactures undertook a voluntary recall involving seat belt buckles manufactured by Takata, Japan's largest manufacturer of safety equipment. As I recall, the recall involved the TK-52 buckle, which had a red "press" button that could break.

Now this just in from Bloomberg: plaintiff attorneys in Southern California tried to establish class-wide relief involving all purchasers of TK-52 buckles in California, seeking restitution of up to $247 million to replace them all.

No dice:

Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Maureen Duffy-Lewis rejected the claims Jan. 16, finding no violations of testing requirements, no evidence that Takata?s tests were inadequate and no evidence that consumers relied on the company?s tests. Lead plaintiff Lupe Zavala didn?t show evidence of actual injury, disqualifying him as representative of other consumers, she said.

?The plaintiffs failed to prove by a ?preponderance of evidence? that defendants engaged in unlawful, unfair or fraudulent conduct? concerning testing, Duffy-Lewis said in her six-page decision. ?At no point in the trial did any witness suggest that the TK-52 buckle failed to work in the manner it was intended.?

I'd be curious to know whether these were the same buckles involved in the 1995 recall. It seems unlikely, since (a) the recall had presumably been accomplished, and the work would have been done at no cost to the consumers; and (b) few of those recall vehicles (which were up to about 1991 models) would still be on the road.

Full post as published by CalBizLit on January 23, 2009 (boomark / email).