A station court ruling was issued in the U.S., when a Florida court awarded compensation of $603 million to the family of a 22-year-old mother of two children, who lost her life to a defective airbag placed in her car.
The case concerns Destiny Byassee, who was killed in June 2023 after a minor-intensity car accident. According to the evidence presented in the court, airbag which was in the vehicle did not work as planned. Instead of protecting the driver, it exploded by launching metal fragments into the cabin, with one of them hitting her in the throat causing her fatal injury (from irresistible bleeding).
As revealed during the trial, the car had previously been involved in another accident in which factory airbags had been activated. When repairing the vehicle, illegally and uncertified spare parts of Chinese origin were installed, without the owner knowing that a fake airbag had been installed in its vehicle.
The Broward County Court in Florida awarded a total of $603 million, of which 243 million concern compensation and the remaining 360 million were imposed as criminal damages to the Chinese company DTN, which allegedly built this airbag. The company denied the charges, however it did not even attend the trial.
The case has caused intense concern to the American authorities, as the American Road Safety Agency (NHTSA) has linked similar illegal airbags of the same company to at least 10 deaths and several serious injuries in the US.
The incident highlights in the most tragic way the importance of using genuine or certified safety spare parts when repairing a vehicle. Especially in systems such as airbags, any interference with questionable quality components can prove fatal.
