ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, June 5, 1996 TAG: 9606050065
SECTION: BUSINESS PAGE: B-6 EDITION: NEW RIVER
DATELINE: WASHINGTON
SOURCE: Knight-Ridder/Tribune
MEMO: Shorter version ran in Metro edition.
Federal safety officials said Tuesday there's not enough evidence to investigate the door latches on 40million General Motors cars and trucks that have been attacked in 66 lawsuits and a landmark jury verdict.
In fact, until an Alabama jury blasted the latches as defective and hit GM with a $150million judgment Monday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration wasn't even aware of any allegations of problems with the latches.
One reason NHTSA didn't know is that GM didn't tell the agency it has defended itself against 66 product-liability lawsuits involving the latches in 15 years.
``There was no need for us to notify NHTSA, legally or practically,'' said Sheila Main, a GM spokeswoman. ``There were just not a sufficient number of complaints to warrant it.''
NHTSA's own complaint files record less than a dozen involving the latches, government safety officials said.
``Nothing steers us toward an investigation,'' said Michael Brownlee, NHTSA's chief investigator. ``We've just not seen a problem. Our database shows only a scant number of complaints.''
NHTSA checked the number of complaints it had received after a jury in Lowndes County, Ala., awarded Alex Hardy $100million in punitive damages and $50million in compensatory damages. Hardy was paralyzed from the waist down after being thrown from his Chevy S10 Blazer in a 1991 accident.
Hardy's attorneys say the truck's axle broke, causing the rollover crash, and that the door came open because of a defective latch.
GM says Hardy had been drinking beer, fell asleep and was not wearing a seat belt. The automaker says the axle broke during the accident, the door did not open and that its latch meets federal safety requirements.
But the safety agency checked only for complaints involving GM's big Blazer and the smaller S10 Blazer - the vehicle Hardy was driving. ``It would take hours for our computer to run a check'' for complaints on all 40million vehicles, Brownlee said.
LENGTH: Short : 47 linesby CNB