We have come across several cases where customers have sued car manufacturers and dealers in consumer court after experiencing problems with their vehicles. In most cases, the court rules out a judgment in favor of the customer. However, what we are dealing with here is a case where the National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission recently quashed an order of the state commission directing Honda to pay ₹100,000 as compensation for non-deployment of the airbags in the car at the time of the accident.
The commission, which also included Subhash Chandra and Sadhna Shanker, came to this conclusion after finding that the customer or the passengers in the car were not wearing seat belts and therefore the airbags in the car were not deployed. The car in question was purchased by the customer from a Honda dealer named Kothari Auto Link Pvt. bought. Ltd. in Pune, Maharashtra for Rs.13,20,003.
The car was later involved in an accident in which the front of the car was severely damaged. The plaintiff who filed the lawsuit was in the car and suffered injuries including a broken left arm and shoulder. Following this accident, the customer filed a lawsuit against the manufacturer, alleging that the car’s airbag had not deployed at the time of the accident and claiming this was a manufacturing defect.
The state commission dealing with the matter initially determined that there was no report that could support the complainant’s claim that wearing a seat belt was necessary for the airbags to deploy. Given the severe impact of the accident, the Commission decided that the airbags should have deployed as a safety feature for which the defendant had paid.
The state commission also found that Honda had recalled about 58,000 cars because of problems with air bags. After examining the facts submitted by the complainant, the Commission awarded compensation of Rs. 1,00,000 and legal costs of Rs. 25,000. The customer also received an insurance claim of Rs.1.60 lakh.
The state commission had ordered Honda to pay the compensation within two months. Honda Cars appealed to the NCDRC, arguing that the defendant had not alleged that the car had a manufacturing defect and therefore the manufacturer could not be held liable. The manufacturer also pointed out that the customer had relied on a brief statement from the Western India Automobile Association, which did not constitute an expert opinion.
The Commission opined that the Western India Automobile Association’s report could not be relied upon as an “expert opinion” as it was neither an “appropriate laboratory” within the meaning of Section 2(1)(a) nor did it provide such an assessment Failure of the airbags with reference to the manual and the accident in terms of speed, direction and location of impact of the collision, on the basis of which it is determined whether the sensors should have activated the airbags or not has arrived. Since there is no technical report or expert report in accordance with Section 13(1)(c), the State Commission’s finding of a defect in the vehicle is not tenable.
The court also pointed out that it was not enough evidence to rely solely on newspaper reports about the recall of cars with airbag problems. The complainant also did not provide any evidence that his car came from the same batch in which airbag problems occurred. The manufacturer claimed that the car was involved in a non-head-on collision near the SRS sensors and therefore the airbags did not deploy.
There was also no extreme, offset collision with an oncoming vehicle or an impact with a stationary obstacle that resulted in a sudden deceleration that warranted deployment of the airbags according to the vehicle’s owner’s manual. After considering all the facts, the court decided to cancel the compensation ordered by the State Commission.
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