Honda Executive Sobs in Testifying on Safety Problems of Vehicles
The senior managing director of the Honda Motor Co. began sobbing on the witness stand Wednesday when an attorney gave him a computer readout containing 789 names of victims--about half of them children--who have died in accidents involving all-terrain vehicles like those built by his company.
Superior Court Judge Ben Hamrick immediately called a recess to allow Tetsuo Chino time to compose himself. “I apologize for getting emotional,” Chino told the jury when the trial of an injury lawsuit resumed about 15 minutes later. “As a father of a child, I get emotional.”
The Japanese executive’s breakdown occurred when he was given the list of victims by San Diego attorney Craig McClellan, who pointed out that about half of the deaths involved children 15 years old and younger.
Chino, who is also chairman of the Gardena-based American Honda Motor Co. Inc., testified that Honda has between 65% to 70% of the ATV market in the United States.
“As I testified, the accidents and injuries associated with the ATVs is my most concern,” said Chino in halting English, moments before breaking down. “I instructed a thorough investigation. . . . But half of the injuries were under 15. . . . We have to increase our effort to promote safety.” At times, Chino testified with the assistance of an interpreter.
Chino’s testimony marks the first time that a top-ranking Honda official has been compelled to testify in a personal-injury lawsuit involving the ATVs manufactured by the company. Previous trials had the testimony of Honda engineers or members of the company’s research and development team. The company lost a bid in the California Supreme Court to prevent Chino from testifying.
The trial stems from a lawsuit filed by the parents of a 14-year-old boy who was severely injured five years ago when he fell off a Honda ATC 110, a three-wheel vehicle, that was being driven by an 8-year-old friend.
The youth, Frank Cusimano Jr., suffered serious brain damage and has a vocabulary of only 40 words, said McClellan, one of two attorneys representing him at the trial.
McClellan questioned Chino relentlessly Wednesday, trying to get him to admit that he was aware of the safety hazards associated with ATVs manufactured by his company and to show that he failed to heed numerous warnings, despite mounting deaths and injuries associated with the vehicles.
Chino admitted that he read several letters and reports sent to him by the U.S. Consumer Products Safety Commission that outlined safety problems with the ATVs. A March 21, 1984, letter from the safety commission warned Chino that rider roll-over and tip-over were the cause of the majority of accidents.
McClellan argued that the letter should have alerted Chino that ATVs have stability problems and should have prompted Honda to conduct further tests of the vehicle. Attorney Richard Bowman, who is representing Honda, objected to McClellan’s argument.
Hamrick said that instability itself did not suggest a defect in the vehicles but agreed that if the commission or other consumer groups alerted the company of possible problems, Honda had an obligation to do further testing. Chino said that Honda has conducted safety tests over the last 20 years and added that company officials “haven’t found any unsafe factors.”
McClellan asked him for the names of the engineers who conducted the tests and for copies of any reports made from the test results. Chino said that he could not remember the engineers’ names and that no reports of the tests were ever written. Instead, Chino said that he received “informal reports” of the tests.
On Dec. 4, 1984, the safety commission wrote Chino another letter, telling him that the agency was going to continue investigating ATV safety and asked him for more information about the vehicles manufactured by Honda. Commission officials also asked Chino for figures about ATV sales in Japan and for injury data relating to ATV use in Japan.
Chino testified that he instructed his staff to respond to the letter but said he never saw the reply and does not know if one was written.
In November, 1984, one month after the commission conducted hearings on ATV safety, Chino wrote to Honda dealers and told them that ATV accidents were due to the “misuse of our products by our customers.” McClellan asked him if some of the company’s customers were children, who were riding Honda ATC 110s intended for adults.
“The ATC 110 was developed with adults as the primary target, but it did not exclude children,” Chino said.
