The Nation - News from Jan. 12, 1988
A couple whose son was crippled in a 1985 traffic accident urged the Transportation Department to order the recall of 1.7 million Ford Escort and Mercury Lynx cars from the 1984 model year to the present, alleging their back-seat safety belts are dangerous. The couple, Larry and Patricia Garrett of La Plata, Md., won a $3.3-million judgment against Ford from a Baltimore federal jury last month. Ford denied the seat belts caused injuries that turned the couple’s son, James, 11, into a paraplegic and killed a second back-seat passenger.
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