AUTOS

Court Ruling Favors Plaintiff in Liability Case: The New Hampshire Supreme Court ruled that the family of a young woman killed in an accident four years ago can sue Ford Motor Co. for negligence because the car in which she died did not have an air bag. The state Supreme Court, overturning a decision by a lower court, ruled that relatives of Rebecca Tebbetts, 18, could sue the auto maker because the Ford Escort in which she was killed did not have a driver’s side air bag and therefore was defectively designed. Tebbetts was wearing a seat belt but died after her head hit the steering wheel when the car spun out of control in 1991. Attorneys for Ford argued that the company could not be held liable for failing to install an air bag in the 1988 car because federal regulations did not require that at the time of manufacture. The state Supreme Court ruled that the federal standards that in 1988 required manufacturers only to install seat belts did not preempt a state law that allows consumers to sue manufacturers for negligence if a product has a dangerous design defect.