Gonzalez v. Autoliv Asp, Inc.

• Decision Date: 27 August 2007
• Docket Number: No. B188829.,B188829.
• Citation: Gonzalez v. Autoliv Asp, Inc., 64 Cal.Rptr.3d 908, 154 Cal.App.4th 780 (Cal. App. 2007)
• Court: California Court of Appeals
• Parties: Guadalupe GONZALEZ, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. AUTOLIV ASP, INC., Defendant and Respondent.

64 Cal.Rptr.3d 908

154 Cal.App.4th 780

Guadalupe GONZALEZ, Plaintiff and Appellant, v. AUTOLIV ASP, INC., Defendant and Respondent.

No. B188829.

Court of Appeal, Second District, Division 8.

August 27, 2007.

Perry H. Rausher and Steven C. Gambardella, Woodland Hills, for Plaintiff and Appellant.

Gordon & Rees, Roger M. Mansukhani, Christopher B. Cato and Eric M. Volkert, San Diego, for Defendant and Respondent.

COOPER, P.J.

We reverse the entry of summary judgment in favor of Autoliv ASP, Inc. (Autoliv). Autoliv failed to provide any evidence negating the theory that the airbag it manufactured was defective under the risk-benefit theory of design defect. Therefore, the summary adjudication of Sister Guadelupe Gonzalez's cause of action for strict products liability was error. The trial court correctly summarily adjudicated Gonzalez's remaining causes of action for negligent products liability and breach of warranty.

FACTUAL AND PROCEDURAL BACKGROUND

On January 30, 2003, Gonzalez, a passenger in a 1998 Ford Taurus, suffered injury to her right eye as a result of a car accident.¹ She sued the other driver, Ford Motor Company, Galpin Ford and several Doe defendants. Autoliv eventually was named as Doe 3 and is the sole respondent in this appeal. Autoliv manufactured the front airbag modules used in the 1998 Ford Taurus.

The complaint included causes of action for negligent and strict products liability and breach of warranty. Gonzalez "contends that the front airbag system in the vehicle was defectively manufactured or designed because the airbag allegedly deployed with excessive and dangerous force causing damage to Plaintiffs right eye." She also contends the airbag should not have deployed in the low speed collision. It is undisputed that "[t]he front airbag module installed in the vehicle in this case fully deployed the cushion from the airbag module as it was designed and manufactured to do."

Motion for Summary Judgment

Autoliv moved for summary judgment or alternatively for summary adjudication arguing as follows: "(1) Autoliv as a component part manufacturer is not liable for any design, manufacturing, or failure to warn defect in a finished product that Autoliv did not design, manufacture, package, or sell; [¶] (2) The undisputed evidence establishes that Autoliv's component part is not defective; and [¶] (3) Plaintiff has failed to produce sufficient evidence to create a triable issue of fact as to the existence of any defect in Autoliv's component part that caused her injury."

In its motion, Autoliv further maintained that it did not manufacture the "overall front airbag system used by Ford" but instead manufactured only "the front airbag module." According to Autoliv's motion, "[a] front airbag system contains components including sensors, a Restraint Control Module ("RCM"), and front airbag modules, among other components, all of which are assembled and installed into the vehicle.... The RCM controls when a front airbag will deploy. It processes information from the sensors in the vehicle and sends a deployment signal to a front airbag module when it receives information that a crash warranting front airbag deployment is occurring. Airbag modules are designed to deploy only when a deployment signal is sent from the RCM to the module." "The front airbag modules in the 1998 Ford Taurus vehicles contain, among other things, an initiator (or `squib'), an inflator, and a textile bag (or `cushion'). When an airbag module receives a signal to deploy from the RCM, the initiator generates the heat required to start a pyrotechnic reaction within the airbag module's inflator, which in turn causes the cushion to inflate and deploy from the module." These "facts" were supported by Russell Gans's declaration.²

Gans is the Autoliv employee who "coordinated" with Ford regarding airbag modules. To show that the airbag module was not defective, Autoliv relied on Gans's declaration. He explained: "An airbag cushion is designed to deploy when, and only when, the squib activates the inflator after receiving a signal from the RCM. The photographs [of the airbag cushions from the car Gonzalez was riding in] appear to depict a passenger side front airbag which has fully deployed from the airbag module. My observations from my physical inspection of the vehicle were consistent with a normal full deployment, and the quality records show that the modules manufactured during the same time frame as the subject module that were tested met all of Ford's specifications." Gans continued: "I am not aware of an inflator deploying at a rate in excess of the manufacturing requirements during an accident that warranted an airbag deployment. Moreover, there is no evidence that the airbag module at issue did not function properly during deployment or that the deployment rate (speed) exceeded Ford's specifications."

Gans further stated that "Autoliv manufactured ... airbag modules for Ford ... according to specifications provided by Ford. Autoliv then supplied the manufactured airbag modules to Ford. Autoliv was not involved in the installations of these modules into the vehicles. Aside from manufacturing and supplying the front airbag modules, Autoliv did not have any other involvement or responsibility with respect to the front airbag systems utilized in the 1998 Ford Taurus vehicles." Gans declared that Autoliv did not manufacture the overall front airbag system, did not test the overall system and did not install the system in the Ford vehicles.

Opposition To Summary Judgment

Gonzalez opposed summary judgment arguing that "the airbag deployed in a manner which was unnecessarily and overly aggressive, which struck plaintiffs right front head region and right eye, which was the cause of blindness in that eye." Gonzalez's opposition was supported by the declaration of D. Theodore Zinke. He stated: "At the time the 1998 Ford Taurus passenger airbag system was being engineered, Autoliv knew or should have known that a phenomenon known as `bag slap' from a deploying airbag ... could cause eye injuries. Defendant Autoliv did not conform to prudent engineering practices by failing to consider the risk of eye injuries when designing, manufacturing and supplying the 1998 Ford Taurus passenger airbag module to defendant Ford." "A reasonably prudent airbag system design engineer would have evaluated the results of testing of the 1998 Ford Taurus passenger airbag system to determine whether the deploying bag would strike the passenger's head in a potentially injurious manner. To date, plaintiff has received no evidence to suggest that such an appropriate evaluation was conducted during the design and testing of the 1998 Ford Taurus passenger airbag system."

Judgment

The trial court adopted a judgment as proposed by Autoliv. The court ruled that Zinke's declaration lacked foundation.

Gonzalez timely appealed.

DISCUSSION

I. Strict Products Liability

In their separate statements, the parties agree that "Plaintiff contends that the front airbag system in the vehicle was defectively manufactured or designed because the airbag allegedly deployed with excessive and dangerous force causing damage to Plaintiffs right eye." Theodore Zinke, Gonzalez's expert, concluded that Autoliv failed to consider that "`bag slap' from a deploying airbag could cause eye injuries" and this risk could have been eliminated by the use of internal tethering, a "fact" Autoliv challenges.

A. Design Defect

"[A] product is defective in design either (1) if the product has failed to perform as safely as an ordinary consumer would expect when used in an intended or reasonably foreseeable manner, or (2) if, in light of the relevant factors ... the benefits of the challenged design do not outweigh the risk of danger inherent in such design." (Barker v. Lull Engineering Co. (1978) 20 Cal.3d 413, 418, 143 Cal.Rptr. 225, 573 P.2d 443 (Barker).) "[I]n evaluating the adequacy of a product's design pursuant to this latter standard, a jury may consider, among other relevant factors, the gravity of the danger posed by the challenged design, the likelihood that such danger would occur, the mechanical feasibility of a safer alternative design, the financial cost of an improved design, and the adverse consequences to the product and to the consumer that would result from an alternative design." (Id. at p. 431, 143 Cal.Rptr. 225, 573 P.2d 443.) "[O]nce the plaintiff makes a prima facie showing that the injury was proximately caused by the product's design, the burden should appropriately shift to the defendant to prove, in light of the relevant factors, that the product is not defective." (Ibid.)³

These principles were applied in McCabe v. American Honda Motor Co. (2002) 100 Cal.App.4th 1111,' 123 Cal. Rptr.2d 303, a case similar to the present one. Lucille McCabe sued Honda, the manufacturer of the airbag in her Honda Civic, when the air bag failed to deploy in a collision. (Id. at p. 1116, 123 Cal.Rptr.2d 303.) Honda argued that "the air bag performed in accordance with its intended design." (Id, at p. 1117, 123 Cal.Rptr.2d 303.) Honda's expert opined that "the air bag system performed as designed, and there was `no evidence of a defect.'" (Id. at p. 1118, 123 Cal.Rptr.2d 303.) The court reversed the entry of summary judgment in favor of Honda because (among other reasons) Honda failed to negate the risk benefit theory of design defect. (Ibid.) The court held that even if Honda demonstrated that "the air bag performed under the circumstances of the crash in conformity with its design ... such evidence alone is not sufficient to negate McCabe's theory that the design itself was defective under either the consumer expectation or risk-benefit theory." (Id, at p. 1123, 123 Cal.Rptr.2d 303.) "Under the risk-benefit theory, McCabe need only show the design caused her injuries; if so, the burden shifts to the defendant to prove the benefits of the design outweigh its...