IMPORTANT POINT
Functioning of safety air bags in car depends on many factors.

Dr. B. C. Gupta, Member—ijay Saxena deceased, a telecom contractor, purchased a SKODA OCTAVIA car, manufactured by OP-1 Skoda Auto AS, through the dealer, OP-3, ACE Cars, Gurgaon by paying a sum of Rs. 9,92,920/-. The deceased used to take contracts in his professional field at different places in the country. On the fateful day, Vijay Saxena was travelling in the said car bearing registration No. HR51N5674 from Baroda to Jaipur when he met with an accident with a truck bearing registration No. HR 29G 3037 at about 1 AM on 20.08.2004. It has been stated that the said truck was being driven rashly and negligently and had overtaken the car from the wrong side and then stopped, which resulted into a serious accident and death of the deceased. However, his co-passenger sitting next to the driver seat survived the accident. An FIR No.204/2004 was got registered by the surviving passenger at Police Station Kishangarh District Ajmer under section 279/337/304 A IPC against the driver of the truck. The present complaint has been filed by the widow of the deceased as complainant no.1, two children of the deceased as complainants no.2 & 3 and mother of the deceased as complainant no.4. It has been stated that Vijay Saxena was a young entrepreneur, only 38 years old, at the time of his death and his whole family had suffered great mental and physical agony as well as financial loss, following his death. It has been alleged in the complaint that at the time of purchase, the representatives of OP-3 had assured the deceased that the car was of a particular standard quality and grade. However, when the deceased met with the said accident, the safety measures as projected and explained by the representatives of the company were not properly activated on account of manufacturing defect sustained in the safety bag which resulted into bursting of the safety bag. The death of the deceased was only on account of such defect in the said car. The complainants made the following prayer in the complaint:-

“(a) Grant a sum of Rs.25,00,000/- (Rs. Twenty Five Lacs only) for mental and physical agony which the entire family including the widow (complainant No.1), children (complainants No.2 and 3) and mother (complainant No.4) have to sustain for the entire life.

(b) Grant a sum of Rs.20,00,000/- (Rs. Twenty Lacs only) towards the loss of love and affection which the complainants will have to sustain for the entire life and have no body else to fulfil the same.

(c) Grant a sum of Rs.50,00,000/- (Rs. Fifty Lacs only) as compensation for the loss of life of the deceased looking to the glaring prospect and high achievements and heights which the deceased would have reached in his business ventuRespondent

(d) Grant the price of the car being Rs. 9,92,920/- since the car purchased from the respondents has been found to be having manufacturing defects. “

2. The complaint was resisted by M/s. Skoda Auto A. S. – OP-1 by filing an affidavit in reply, in which they raised the following issues:-

(i) The vehicles manufactured by the OP are as per international quality standards, with strict quality control norms, well accepted by Auto experts across the world;

(ii) At the time of accident, the safety features of air bags were properly deployed as clearly shown by the photographs attached by the complainants.

(iii) The complainants stated in para 11 of the complaint that the safety balloons ‘did not inflate’. However, in para 13 of the complaint, the complainant stated that due to manufacturing defect, the safety bag had busted. The stand taken by the complainants was, therefore, contradictory.

(iv) The accident occurred at 1 AM midnight when the car had been driven by the deceased for almost 12 hours while driving from Baroda to Jaipur.

(v) It has been stated in the FIR that the accident occurred due to rash and negligent driving of the truck driver, who overtook the car from wrong side and applied the brakes suddenly.

(vi) The deployment of air bags would depend