A Florida jury has ordered Mitsubishi to pay $11 million in compensatory damages to the parents of a 25-year-old man who died after being partially ejected from a 2000 Montero SUV. Attorneys for Donna and Peter Laliberte argued that Mitsubishi knew about seat belt problems with its SUV model and released a newer version of the vehicle halfway through the model year to correct the flaws, but never told customers about the defect in the earlier model.

This is a classic example of the auto industry covering up a known defect in the hopes that it would not be discovered. Unfortunately, this unreported defect took the life of a young man and left loving parents mourning the death of their son.

Government agencies do not have the money or manpower needed to effectively police the U.S. auto industry. As a result, dangerous vehicles are allowed to enter the marketplace. In this case, the vehicle had done poorly on crash tests yet was allowed to go on the market. Then, Mitsubishi replaced the model halfway through the year without communicating the defect to the thousands of people who owned the earlier model. Product liability cases such as this are the only way to force the auto industry to change.

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