As part of the settlement, owners will have an unusual fallback, if a federal judge approves it: Hyundai will buy the vehicles back if they cannot be fixed, Robert B. Carey, a Phoenix lawyer who filed the suit, said in an interview.
Since 2006, Hyundai has recalled almost 1.3 million vehicles for air bag malfunctions, but this is the first time it has done so as a result of a settlement, a spokesman, Jim Trainor, wrote in an e-mail.
The settlement is to be filed in the United States District Court Central District of California by Aug. 17. Mr. Trainor declined to comment on the settlement, saying it would be inappropriate because the judge had yet to approve it.
However, Mr. Trainor said, regardless of whether the judge approved the settlement, the Santa Fe models will be recalled.
Hyundai says it will fix a software flaw that could result in the front passenger air bag being turned off if a person of “small stature” is seated there.
The defect could increase the chance of injury in a frontal crash, Hyundai said in a report (PDF) to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on its Web site.
The issue is the so-called advanced air bag system required by the federal government since 2006.
The systems are designed to minimize the chance of a person being injured by an air bag. Sensors detect the severity of the crash, the seating position and the occupant’s size. A computer adjusts the force with which the air bag deploys depending on the input.
In addition, if a small child were seated there, which safety experts discourage, a warning light would say the passenger air bag was deactivated.
The thrust of the suit filed in 2009 is the assertion that some Hyundai advanced air bag systems were defective and turned off the passenger air bag when a person weighing as much as 120 pounds was seated.
Two of the named plaintiffs are a couple from Ohio who own a 2006 Sonata. The wife weighs “less than 120 pounds,” according to the suit.
The two others are a Texas couple whose 117-pound daughter’s head hit the windshield in a frontal crash. The suit says the injury occurred because the air bag did not deploy. Mr. Carey said she was wearing a seat belt.
However, the suit also asked to represent “all persons who currently own or lease a 2006–9 Hyundai vehicles with an occupant classification system in the front passenger seat.”
It says those vehicles include, but are not limited to, the Sonata, Tucson, Tiburon, Santa Fe, Elantra, Accent and Azera.
According to Mr. Carey, the lawyer representing the plaintiffs, the suit was never certified. The lawyer added that the parties went directly into settlement discussions.
In an interview, Mr. Carey said he wanted the Sante Fe crossovers fixed, but it was Hyundai’s idea to do so with a recall through N.H.T.S.A.
Mr. Carey said the details of the buyback would be included when the proposed settlement was filed.
While the complaint asserted virtually all Hyundai models from 2006–9 had defective air bag systems, only the Santa Fes were being recalled as a result of the pending settlement.
In an e-mail, Mr. Carey wrote that as the case progressed “more robust data” were available and “further information indicated that some of those cars did not have a problem.”
Mr. Carey said he believed “the settlement addresses all vehicles with a problem.”
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Source: The New York Times (Jensen, 7/30)
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