$800,000 Awarded in Death Tied to Faulty Auto Safety Belt

The widow of a neurosurgeon won an $800,000 settlement Monday against General Motors Corp. in a lawsuit alleging that a faulty safety belt design led to her husband’s death.

A jury deliberated about nine hours before returning its verdict to U.S. District Judge David D. Dowd Jr. after a 2 1/2-week trial.

Lois Baird of Silver Lake was seeking $3 million for the August, 1982, death of her husband, William Baird II, 63, whose car ran off a suburban Akron road and struck a tree.

Baird said her husband always wore a safety belt and would be alive today but for excessive slack in the “window-shade” belt, which has been installed in most American-made cars since the late 1970s.

The belt is so named because the shoulder harness can be loosened by pulling on it, in much the same way as a window shade. Critics say the feature allows a dangerous amount of slack that may leave little protection in an accident.