Auto Maker Found Liable in Air Bag Case

In the first ruling of its kind, a New York federal court jury Friday found DaimlerChrysler Corp. partly responsible for the death of a 5-year-old boy who was killed when an air bag deployed during a head-on collision.

The jury in U.S. District Court in Manhattan said the world’s fifth-largest auto maker was 50% responsible for Michael Liz Crespo’s death, and awarded the boy’s family $750,000. The jury did not identify who was responsible for the other $750,000 award, DaimlerChrysler spokesman Jay Cooney said.

The verdict, which came after four days of deliberations, was the first in a case involving the death of a child in connection with the deployment of an air bag. A similar case in Tennessee was settled by the former Chrysler Corp. in October.

DaimlerChrysler, formed last month through the merger of Germany’s Daimler-Benz and Chrysler, said it will appeal Friday’s decision in post-trial motions.

“It is unfortunate that the jury appears to have let their emotions cloud their judgment,” DaimlerChrysler associate general counsel Ken Gluckman said in a statement. “The jury’s decision runs afoul of the engineering judgment of experts in all automotive companies as well as the United States government.”

The attorney for the boy’s family called the air bag system in the minivan “defective and unreasonably dangerous.”

Crespo was killed on Aug. 17, 1995, while riding as a passenger in the front seat of his father’s rented 1995 Dodge Caravan minivan in Puerto Rico, DaimlerChrysler said.

The father, Jose Liz, drove the minivan the wrong way down a steep private drive and struck an oncoming vehicle head on, the auto maker said. DaimlerChrysler used medical experts to argue that the child would not have died if he had been wearing his seat belt.

Liz testified that he was not wearing a seat belt and neither were two other children in the vehicle, the company said.