Supreme Court to Hear Mazda Seatbelt Case

The United States Supreme Court will contemplate exposing carmakers to additional lawsuits from consumers, agreeing to rule on whether the family of an accident victim may sue Mazda Motor Corp. for the kind of seatbelts placed in the 1993 Mazda MPV minivan.

The suit will allow the justices to reevaluate the scope of a decision in 2000 ruling that federal law protects carmakers from claims made under product-liability law at the state level that they should have acted more expeditiously to install airbags.

The court’s agreement to hear the Mazda case is highly unusual because every other court to hear the issue has ruled that seatbelt-design lawsuits were similarly prohibited. The Supreme Court intervened at the prompting of United States Solicitor General Elena Kagan, now President Barack Obama’s nominee for the high court.

Lower Courts Misinterpreting Previous Ruling

Kagan informed the justices that the lower courts have consistently “over-read” the 2000 decision to mean that federal safety laws for seatbelts prevent lawsuits from consumers that try to hold carmakers to a stricter standard.

Kagan said the approach of the lower courts is at variance with the opinions of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which establishes safety standards for motor vehicles.

The lawsuit in question revolves around the installation of two-point seatbelts, or lap belts without a shoulder strap, during a time when federal law permitted them in certain minivan seats. According to NHTSA rules established in 1989, three-point seatbelts were only required on outboard seats, or those adjacent to a window instead of in the center of a row or next to an aisle.

Existing regulations, put into place in 2007, require new vehicles to install three-point seatbelts in all seats that face forward.