Hyundai to pay Creta customer Rs 3 lakh after Supreme Court order

In one of its latest decisions involving passenger safety and losses in case of vehicle accidents, a bench of the Supreme Court declared that if the airbags of a vehicle do not deploy during an accident, the car manufacturer should be subject to punitive damages.

Hyundai directed to pay Rs 3 lakh

The whole matter revolves around a Hyundai Creta 1.6 VTVT SX+, which was purchased by its owner on August 21, 2015. On November 16, 2017, the SUV met with an accident on the Delhi-Panipat highway, however, the dual front airbags of it failed to deploy. The unfortunate results of this incident included significant damage to the Hyundai Creta and head, chest and dental injuries suffered by the owner of the SUV who was driving it at the time of the accident.

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As the airbags failed to deploy during the accident, the car buyer filed a complaint regarding a defect in the vehicle. Based on the complaint filed, the state commission ordered a compensation of Rs 2 lakh for medical expenses and loss of income, Rs 50,000 for the cost of litigation and Rs 50,000 for the mental agony faced by the car buyer.

Supreme Court order

The bench of the Supreme Court, led by Justices Vineet Saran and Aniruddha Bose, said that the capacity of the car manufacturer should be considered a factor to compute such punitive damages. The bench said that the consumer is under the impression that the airbags of a vehicle will deploy automatically, as soon as the vehicle meets with an accident.

The top court of the country said that in general situations, the car manufacturer shies away from taking responsibility by countering that the speed of the vehicle and force of the impact of the accident is not high enough to trigger the sensors of the airbags for their deployment.

In such cases, it should be understood that a consumer is not an expert to calculate such theories. These statements by the Supreme Court bench were issued while hearing an appeal filed by Hyundai Motor India Limited against National Consumer Disputes Redressal Commission’s (NCDRC) order.

In addition to these compensations, the state commission also said that as the vehicle of the appellant was not replaced, the appellant is liable to get an interest of seven per cent per annum of the total value of the vehicle from the date of the accident. Opposing these aforementioned announcements, Hyundai Motor India Limited filed an appeal to issue a stay on these compensations announced by the State Commission.

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