The company had denied any technical flaw in BMW X5. The company blamed the negligence of the car owner for this accident. The court rejected the company’s arguments and found it guilty.
New Delhi. German car manufacturer BMW is famous for making high end luxury cars. BMW cars are equipped with modern technologies. Most of the company’s cars are equipped with soft door close feature. In this, the doors of the car close slowly without making any sound. Not only this, if something comes between the door, the sensor detects it immediately and the door does not close. But, this feature of BMW has proved costly for him. In America, due to this feature of BMW X5 not working, the upper part of the thumb of a person was cut off. The victim dragged the company to court. Now the court has ordered the company to pay compensation of 1.9 million dollars to the victim. Currently the BMW X5 price in India is above Rs 1 crore.
The matter is of the year 2016. This incident happened with New York-based software engineer Godwin Boateng. He was sitting in his BMW X5 car. He had kept one hand on the edge of the driver’s side. The car door was half open. Suddenly the door closed with force. Boateng’s thumb got stuck in the door. By the time he freed his hand after opening the door, the upper part of his thumb was cut off. Boateng said that the door closed so fast that he did not get a chance to remove his hand.
Also read- The case of defective BMW car was going on for 15 years, the case reached the Supreme Court, the CJI bench settled the case like this
Unable to connect thumb
Godwin Boateng was immediately taken to the hospital. But, the doctors could not join his severed thumb back. Angered by this technical flaw in the expensive car, Boateng filed a case against BMW. The company argued in the court that no technical flaw was found during the inspection of the vehicle. The company also said that it is clearly written in the user manual of the vehicle that nothing is to be kept between the doors of the vehicle.
Got justice after 9 years
This matter continued for 9 years. Boateng’s lawyer told the court that at least 40 incidents of injury have been reported worldwide due to a technical flaw in the BMW X5 soft doors close feature. Boateng said that he is a software engineer. His work has been affected due to the amputation of his thumb and he is incurring a loss of Rs 2 crore annually. The court held BMW guilty and ordered the company to pay $1.9 million compensation to Boateng.
Tags: auto news, Bmw 5 series, car accident
FIRST PUBLISHED: July 11, 2024, 15:18 IST
