Al Ain court dismisses Dh300,000 airbag defect lawsuit

Al Ain: The Al Ain Court for Civil, Commercial, and Administrative Claims has dismissed a lawsuit filed by a vehicle owner seeking Dh 300,000 in compensation from a car dealership after claiming that a manufacturing defect in the vehicle’s airbags resulted in their failure to deploy during a crash.

The court pointed out that the evidence presented did not prove that the airbags failed to deploy at the time of the accident, which was crucial to the plaintiff's case.

According to Emarat Al Youm, the plaintiff, a young man, filed a lawsuit against the dealership, requesting compensation for material, moral, psychological, and emotional harm after a collision in which the airbags failed to deploy.

He stated that six months prior to the accident, he received a call from the authorised dealership informing him of a manufacturing defect in the airbags and advising him to book a service appointment.

The claimant alleged that he took the car to the service centre to repair or replace the defective airbags and picked up the vehicle two days later, under the impression that the issue had been resolved.

After the accident, the police report indicated that the airbags failed to deploy because of a manufacturing defect. Additionally, the plaintiff claimed that a dealership branch manager admitted that the airbags had been disconnected but not replaced, thereby putting his life and his passengers' lives at risk.

The dealership’s lawyer argued that the claim should be dismissed, asserting that the lawsuit had been filed against a party not responsible for the alleged manufacturing defect.

The defence noted that the claimant’s case relied on the assertion that the airbags failed due to a manufacturing flaw, but there was no evidence to prove that the dealership was legally bound to guarantee such defects.

It was also pointed out that the claimant had reached out to the manufacturer, which requested the vehicle be available for inspection within a specified time frame, but the plaintiff did not comply.

In its decision, the court noted that the plaintiff had been asked to provide the vehicle for inspection within 15 days, and that failure to do so would result in the closure of the file.

The court found no proof that the airbags failed to deploy during the crash or that the circumstances would have triggered their deployment. Additionally, the claimant did not provide admissible evidence to support his claims.

As a result, the court rejected the lawsuit and ordered the claimant to pay for the legal costs and expenses.