The lawsuit was filed by Sarah Milburn, a 27 year-old woman who was paralyzed from the neck down in a car accident on November 15, 2015.
She sat in the third-row middle seat of a 2011 Honda Odyssey on her way home after a night out with friends in Dallas. Her Uber driver, Arian Yusufzai, ran a red light while speeding and was T-boned by a Ford F-150 pickup truck.
The seatbelt was a two-part system that required her to connect a shoulder strap on the ceiling to the seat and then pull the belt across her hips and buckle it.
The seatbelt failed to restrain Milburn in the rollover accident, allowing her head to fly forward into the seat in front of her. She suffered severe injuries to her neck.
Neither Yusufzai nor the pickup truck driver were seriously injured.
The jury awarded $37.6 million in compensation, including nearly $20 million in future medical expenses.
Honda was found 63% responsible for her injuries, Yusufzai was 32% responsible, and Milburn was 5% responsible for not putting on the seatbelt correctly.
The lawsuit is In RE: Sarah Milburn v. American Honda Motor Co. Inc. — Case No. DC-16-16470 in the 116th Civil District Court in Dallas County, Texas.
Source: Honda Hit With $38M Verdict Over Shoddy Seat Belt In Texas