DaimlerChrysler Ordered to Pay in Air-Bag Injury Case

A jury ordered DaimlerChrysler to pay $58.5 million in a class-action lawsuit filed by a woman whose hand was burned when her Chrysler LeBaron’s air bag inflated in an accident in 1992.

The Pennsylvania state jury awarded $730 to each of 75,000 plaintiffs from Pennsylvania to buy safer air bags for Chrysler vehicles made between 1988 and 1990. The jury also awarded $3.8 million in punitive damages.

The auto maker, formed by the November merger between Chrysler and Germany’s Daimler-Benz, plans to appeal.

The damages cover late-1988, 1989 and 1990 Chrysler vehicles that have driver-side air bags with vents, which allow the device to rapidly deflate after it inflates.

An attorney for the plaintiffs said the lawsuit was aimed at ensuring that drivers can get safe air bags and not about trying to profit from a minor injury.

In Other Consumer News: Pennzoil-Quaker State Co. is voluntarily recalling all of its Fix-a-Flat products because they caused tires to explode when used improperly in six cases, killing one person and injuring five.

Pennzoil-Quaker said the explosions resulted from a person welding on the metal rim that holds the tire while the tire was still attached. Labels on the product warn against that practice.

Redesigned Fix-a-Flat products will be available in a few weeks.

Consumers who have bought Fix-a-Flat products are being asked to call the company’s 24-hour hot line, (800) 532-5000, to find out how to return them and receive reformulated products at no cost.