Robert M.N. Palmer and Chantel L. Alberhasky, The Law Offices of Robert M.N. Palmer, P.C. for plaintiff; and G. Keith Phoenix, Sandberg, Phoenix & von Gontard, P.C., defendants Hyundai Motor American Corporation and Hyundai Motor Company; Gregory W. Aleshire, Aleshire, Robb & Sivils, P.C., and Monte P. Clithero, Taylor, Stafford, Woody, Clithero and FitzGerald, L.L.P. defendant Shayla Plemmons; and Bradley C. Tuck, Tuck & Lukachick, P.C., for defendant Rebecca Stronzewski.

On the evening of November 25, 1999, at approximately 8:42 p.m., five-year old McKenzie Graham was riding with her mother, Shayla Plemmons, in Ms. Plemmons’ 1997 Hyundai Sonata GL. Ms. Plemmons was in the right hand lane headed southbound on Glenstone Avenue at the Independence Street intersection in Springfield, Missouri. A vehicle driven by Rebecca Stronzewski made an improper left turn across Ms. Plemmons' path resulting in Ms. Plemmons’ vehicle striking Ms. Stronzewski vehicle at a relatively low speed. Plaintiff’s experts had determined the delta-V to be 3 – 5 mph. McKenzie was a passenger in the right front seat and had just unfastened her seatbelt to retrieve a toy. On impact, the passenger side airbag of the Hyundai deployed, striking McKenzie beneath the chin and immediately causing the fatal injuries to her throat, neck, cervical spine and base of the brain. Neither Ms. Plemmons nor Ms. Stronzewski were injured in the collision.

Plaintiff plead that defendant Hyundai Motor American Corp. failed to use ordinary and reasonable care in designing the airbag restraint system in the 1997 Hyundai Sonata and created a defective product by designing the air bag system with a deployment threshold that was too low and/or without adequate safeguards to prevent deployment in a collision of this severity. The evidence would have been that air bags provide no benefit until approximately 18 mph and that at the speeds of this accident (3 – 5 mph), the deployment of the air bag is actually very dangerous.
 

Case settled for a confidential amount on December 12, 2000