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General Motors Corp. v. Jernigan12/12/2003
d, what would have been the difference as far as the space in the occupant compartment?
"A. I really don't know how much intrusion came in to the car. But what I do know as a design engineer is that the restraint system was [designed] to allow the occupant to stroke through the seat belt system without striking dash panels and hinge pillars. So there is usually not a lot of margin for error here in that allowing these pillars to come in at all presents a risk.
"Q. Could it have been designed to keep the A- pillar in place?
"A. It could have, yes.
"Q. Had the alternative designs been used that you described, you believe that would have occurred?
"A. I believe so ... yes."
GM does not challenge Mundo's experience as a design engineer or his analysis of the Oldsmobile's failed performance in the accident. GM challenges Mundo's opinion that his proposed alternative designs would have performed better under the circumstances of this accident and provided the six to eight inches of extra space Dr. Burton testified was necessary, thereby preventing Jeffrey's injuries.
GM offered evidence indicating that it had crash-tested the "mild" 30-ksi steel used in the upper rails and concluded that it did not degrade the crashworthiness of the vehicle. GM contended that the door-guard beam complied with FMVSS 214, as well as with GM's higher internal standards, and was thicker and of greater strength than that found in the first- generation H-car. GM said that the test results for the door-guard beams in the first- and second-generation H-cars were the same. The shortening and narrowing of the lower rails resulted from GM's "structural enhancement program" to improve crashworthiness and to reduce noise, vibration, and harshness. GM used, in lieu of the torque box, a "shear plate" which, according to GM, performed the same function as a torque box. In the late 1970s and the 1980s, GM says, it studied the effect of torque boxes and determined that they were unnecessary. Jernigan points out that the Pontiac, also a GM vehicle, had torque boxes.
Mundo did not test his alternative designs. Instead, he relied on tests performed on the first-generation H-car, which he considered to have a stronger front-end structure, pointing to a passenger HIC score of 539.2 in one 35-mph frontal- barrier test. He also relied upon the FMVSS 208 crash test of the second-generation H-car in which he observed the floor pan collapsing and upon the collision itself, inspecting and assessing the Oldsmobile and the Pontiac just as he would have done in a crash test. Finally, Mundo relied upon his own extensive experience.
GM attempted to test Mundo's alternative designs by using a Ford Taurus automobile, which it contended Mundo had described in a pretrial deposition as embodying his proposed alternative designs. Under the guidance of an accident reconstructionist, GM conducted a crash test with a Taurus and a Pontiac comparable to the Pontiac involved in the collision. According to GM, the passenger dummy in the Taurus experienced a HIC score of 7300 and the A-pillar of the Taurus crushed six inches further into the occupant compartment than did the A-pillar of the Oldsmobile, providing exactly the reverse of the additional six to eight inches that Dr. Burton stated was necessary to avoid Jeffrey's injuries. Jernigan objected to evidence of the crash test between the Taurus and a Pontiac. The trial court deferred its ruling on Jernigan's objection and permitted a video of the crash test to be shown to the jury during opening statements. In his testimony, Mundo said that the test was "rigged" to come out in GM's favor because, he said, GM had
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