Davis Law Group, P.S.

Child Wrongful Death Case Settles Against Kia Motors for $40 Million

Official with Kia knew that seat belts in the 1999 model of the vehicles did not work properly, but were not included in a 1995-1998 recall of those years. The vehicles with recent issues were not recalled until years later.

“I’m satisfied that the court system has done what was within its ability to do, but I feel bad for the family. Kia should have recalled all of the vehicles, not just some of them, particularly because the defect was in a safety device,” one of the family’s lawyers said. “It’s not like it was a cigarette lighter or a radio. This is the single most important safety device in the car.”

Child Wrongful Death and Car Accidents

By far the most common type of injury accident involving children are those that also involve motor vehicle collisions. According to the National Center for Statistics and Analysis (NCSA), nearly 250,000 children are injured every year in car accidents.

Of the 250,000 kids injured each year, approximately 2,000 die from their injuries. Children make up about 5% of total fatalities due to car accidents. In fact, for children between the ages of 2 and 14, motor vehicle accidents are the leading cause of death.

Car accidents are also the leading cause of acquired disability (e.g., brain injury, paralysis, etc.) for children nationwide. And approximately 20% of the children who die in a car accident each year are killed in accidents involving a driver who is legally intoxicated. Nearly half of these children were killed while riding as passengers in an automobile driven by an intoxicated driver.

The failure to wear a seat belt or use a child safety seat is a contributing factor in more than half of the cases involving children who die in car accidents. Not only is an unrestrained child a potential distraction to the driver of the vehicle, but also the failure to wear a seat belt dramatically increases the chance that a child will suffer much more serious injury and death.