In this case, only one of the passengers was in the rear seat. The right passenger door was were the impact took place and was too damaged to open. The only exit would be through the drivers door. If the driver was unconscious (a reasonable assumption in this case), it would be nearly impossible for this rear passenger to exit the car w/o help. Especially since this passenger was a woman.

i believe there are already many legal precedents dis-proving the family's ludicrous allegations.

for example, if a building is on fire and someone dies because the actual building doors were on fire preventing escape, you cannot sue the door manufacturer. the cause of death is the "fire," not the door. (yes, some idiots tried to sue for this and lost.)

the same goes with guns. if someone shoots someone else with a gun, you can't sue the gun manufacturer. it was the "shooter" responsible for the action that caused harm and not the gun. (yes, there were morons who tried to sue for this and lost.)

so the family's allegations are about as logical as an emperor penguin sunbathing in the mojave desert.

the only case that would hold any type of water is if a part actually malfunctioned in such a way that it was directly responsible and the direct cause of harm/ death. like, say the they were driving along normally, and the suicide door sudden exploded and sent metal shooting into the rear passenger & killing her. then- yes, in this case, mazda would be screwed, along with any other vendors that made parts for the door.

i hate to point out the obvious, but they're called suicide doors for a reason- ie they cannot be opened from the inside.

mazda is not the only car company that utilizes the "suicide door" design on their vehicles. last i checked, saturn, nissan also use this design on their econo cars and titan trucks.

They are called Suicide Doors because when they were first introduced (1920's ?) a few people opened them up at speed. The wind pulled them open and the occupant out of the car. It was committing suicide to open the doors while the car was moving. It was a slang term. No car company named them that.

Exactly... what's wrong with those idiots!? I mean, it's not as if the guns were actually designed to harm people. The gun manufacturer had no way of knowing that their product, fucntioning as designed, could actually injure someone. Stupid people who sue gun companies!

ugh. let it go.


Lots of assumptions being made here. No one knows what the family(s) state of mind may be, but we can all assume the lawyer has advised them to include Mazda in the suit. Should they tell their lawyer to F-off? Probably, but hey-zues mayn, let it all go.

alnielson - er du dansk?

Mr. Nielsen, your comment on 2/13/08 @2:39 is a pretty accurate description of what had occurred in the accident. My daughter and I arrived at the scene moments after it occurred; my daughter saw the flames and flew out of our car to attempt a rescue. The right hand side of the car was crushed in and wedged against the column base-- totally inaccessible. The driver was unconscious and the driver's door could not be opened. My daughter and three young men managed to pull the third passenger (a conscious girl in the back seat) partially through the back window, but her feet were entangled between the crushed seats. She could not be extricated, and so slid back into the back seat. The flames spread so quickly very little could be done.

I've read the entire thread, and to clarify a few points: Lower Wacker was moist and misty that night; the car didn't jump any curbs-- it spun around to an east facing position in the west bound lane; and rescue attempts were made-- without tools, it was just impossible to extricate the trapped passengers during the small window of opportunity.

The whole experience was horrifying; I think about those kids every time I pass that steel column. The accident and resulting deaths were probably the result of a concatenation of small events: an enticing stretch of road; a little too fast off the green light; moist pavement; a lack of personal fire extinguishers. A crow bar may have come in handy.

Besides the thoughtfulness that a person gains from witnessing an accident like this, I've also gained a fire extinguisher in my auto. One never knows when one might need one.

Mech Elec Girl,
I don't know what your connection to the people involved is or if you will even be back to read this. But, I feel sorry for you and that you had to experience the activities of that night. I drove into the city and visited the site 2 or 3 days after the accident. It wasn't difficult to find with the flower bouquets that were placed there. I did this in an attempt to get an understanding of what happened. You can read the newpaper reports, but you still don't really know.
I have, in the past, been a corner marshal at road racing events and I have seen many car accidents. Fortunately, none that I was involved in were serious. We would discuss these at the end of the day and fires were what scared us the most.
Next month month, I am in charge of organizing a cruise, that will be taking us past this site. Prior to that cruise, I plan on making an announcement about the incident that happened that day. Hopefully this will keep others from getting in over their head at least for a little while.

My condolences.