← NHTSA complaints

2006 BUICK LUCERNE — SEAT BELTS

1 fatalcrash · 1047613 · 2014-03-19

Vehicle

Make
BUICK
Model
LUCERNE
Year
2006
Manufacturer
General Motors, LLC
Component
SEAT BELTS
Miles at failure
40,000
Speed
25 mph

Severity

Deaths
1
Injured
0
Fire
No
Crash
Yes
Police report
No
Medical attention
No
Vehicle towed
No

Narrative

2006 LUCERNE SUDDENLY LEFT CITY ROADWAY FOR NO APPARENT REASON. LUCERNE COLLIDED WITH TWO TELEPHONE POLES POSITIONED NEXT TO EACH OTHER. DELTA V OF COLLISION BETWEEN 22 AND 25 MPH. POLE TO DRIVER SIDE FRAME IMPACT WITH DRIVER SIDE FRONT WHEEL PUSHED INTO DRIVER FLOOR BOARD SO FLOOR PUSHED AGAINST BRAKE PEDAL POST COLLISION. NO AIRBAG DEPLOYED. PDOF WAS NEAR STRAIGHT AHEAD OR 12 O'CLOCK. DRIVER BELT SPOOLED OUT ALLOWING DRIVER'S HEAD TO SIGNIFICANTLY DEFORM THE UPPER STEERING WHEEL RIM. DRIVER BELT CUT A NOTCH IN THE B-PILLAR TRIM EXITING THE D-RING HOLE. GM LOOKED AT THIS CAR IN LITIGATION AND AGREED THAT THE DRIVER WAS BELTED. DRIVER SUFFERED JAW FRACTURES, RIB FRACTURES AND LUNG INJURY. DRIVER DIED OF COLLISION RELATED INJURIES 6 MONTHS POST COLLISION. GENERAL MOTORS MAY DISPUTE WHETHER THE DEATH WAS RELATED TO THE AIRBAG NON-DEPLOYMENT, BUT IT CAN NOT DISPUTE THE RELATIONSHIP OF THE JAW AND RIB FRACTURES TO THE NON-DEPLOYMENT. DOWNLOAD OF SDM SHOWED NO "EVENTS RECOVERED". THAT APPEARS TO BE CONSISTENT WITH THE 2006 COBALT IGNITION RECALL ISSUE. THE KEY IN THE IGNITION AFTER THE ACCIDENT HAS A STRING OF KEYS AND OTHER ITEMS HANGING DOWN SEVERAL INCHES FROM THE KEY IN THE IGNITION, ALSO SEEMINGLY CONSISTENT WITH THE 2006 COBALT IGNITION RECALL ISSUE. DRIVER WOULD HAVE BEEN PROTECTED FROM SERIOUS INJURY BE A TIMELY AIRBAG DEPLOYMENT IN THIS COLLISION ACCORDING TO BIOMECHANICS RETAINED BY THE DRIVER'S FAMILY IN LITIGATION AGAINST GENERAL MOTORS. THIS COMPLAINAN

Source

Authoritative
NHTSA ODI Flat-File Downloads
ODI Number
10573445
Machine
JSON-LD · Markdown