Crash victims file $95 million suit against Kia Corp.

Posted on Friday, April 28, 2017 

EDITOR

brian justice

The parents of twin brothers who died from a Dec. 31, 2015, collision on Dinah Shore Boulevard are suing the car corporation they deem responsible for $95 million.

Coffee County residents Aaron Hill and his wife, Lynetta Hill, have filed the lawsuit in U.S. District Court Eastern District of Tennessee on grounds Kia Motors and its parent group, Hyundai-Kia Automotive, are responsible for what occurred on New Year’s Eve more than a year ago.

They are seeking $35 million in compensatory damages and $60 million in punitive damages.

The lawsuit stems from the collision that claimed the lives of 7-year-old twin brothers John and James Hill.

It says that as a “direct and proximate result of the defendants’ negligence, Aaron Hill and Lynetta Hill sustained serious and permanent bodily injuries and emotional and mental injuries,” and their minor children were fatally injured.

When the collision occurred, the Hills were stopped at the red light in Winchester at the Dinah Shore Boulevard-Bypass Road intersection facing south. The twin boys were in the back seat.

Without warning, from behind, the Hill family’s minivan was hit with such force, the rear end of the minivan was collapsed practically into the front seat. The wreckage flew across the intersection as the minivan spun 360 degrees at least once and hit the front of the truck.

The vehicle that hit the Hill’s minivan, a tan 2008 Kia, was driven by 83-year-old Mary Parks. Her passenger, Jimmie Northcutt, another older woman, was riding in the back seat.

Witnesses said they saw the Kia speeding erratically south on the Boulevard moments before it slammed into the Hill’s vehicle. The front end of the Kia was nearly non-existent due to the force with which it hit. It did not appear that brakes had been applied at all.

The speedometer in the Kia had frozen at 90 miles an hour due to the impact, police reports said.

James died shortly after the impact. John was airlifted to Nashville’s Vanderbilt University Medical Center and later passed away.

Aaron was also taken away from the scene in critical condition, and Lynetta had to be pulled from the wreckage once the police, fire and rescue crews could pry the door open wide enough to safely reach her.

In the Kia, Ms. Parks’ leg was mangled. She and Northcutt were rushed to the hospital. Ms. Parks passed away later.

The lawsuit says Kia Motors and Hyundai-Kia Automotive Group “failed to discharge their duty to issue warnings prior to the sale of the vehicle.”

It says the defendants were aware that the product was defective or unreasonably dangerous before it was sold, and the corporation failed to take reasonable steps to warn potential buyers of the “defective or unreasonably dangerous condition of the vehicle.”

The lawsuit says the 2008 Kia Optima model is defective because it had an inadequate fault detection system that could not “anticipate foreseeable unwanted outcomes, including unintended acceleration.”

It also says that the electronic throttle control system and its components are highly susceptible to malfunction caused by various electronic failures, including faulty circuit boards, short circuits, software glitches and electromagnetic interference from sources outside the vehicle.

The lawsuit also says that the car model lacks a brake override system, meaning that the driver is unable to stop or slow the engine during a sudden unintended acceleration incident by stepping on the brakes.

It says the defendants could have easily implemented a brake override system years ago that would have prevented sudden unintended acceleration incidents, regardless of the cause.

The lawsuit says that from at least 2002, the defendants knew or should have known that the electronic throttle control systems should have included a brake override system.

“The defendants are strictly liable for the damages to the plaintiffs as a result of the design, manufacture and distribution of the subject defective 2008 Kia Optima,” the lawsuit says.

Kia says in its response that Kia Motors of America, based in California, “denies that the subject vehicle suddenly and unexpectedly accelerated out of control… KMA avers that when the subject vehicle was designed, manufactured and sold, it conformed with the state of scientific and technological knowledge available to its manufacturer.”

http://www.heraldchronicle.com/crash-victims-file-95-million-suit-against-kia-corp/