Opinion ID: 2529268
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 20

Heading: Application of the Risk-Utility Balancing Test

Text: ¶ 96 We next consider Ford's contention that it was erroneously held to a higher duty of care than reasonable care, requiring it to design out, guard against, and warn of every conceivable risk. A manufacturer is not required to guard against every conceivable risk, regardless of the degree of harm. Cunis v. Brennan, 56 Ill.2d 372, 376, 308 N.E.2d 617 (1974). Rather, as we explained, plaintiff was required to produce evidence that Ford's conduct in designing the fuel system was unreasonable by presenting evidence that the risk was foreseeable and that the risks inherent in the product design outweighed the benefits. Calles, 224 Ill.2d at 270-71, 309 Ill.Dec. 383, 864 N.E.2d 249. ¶ 97 It was uncontradicted that the 1993 Lincoln Town Car satisfied the specific federal fuel system integrity standards promulgated by the NHTSA for rear-end collisions and exceeded that standard with Ford's own internal 50-miles-per-hour crash testing. It was Arndt's opinion that the ability to maintain fuel system integrity was the standard by which to measure the reasonable design of the fuel system. It was also uncontradicted that it was an accepted industry practice in 1993 to locate the fuel tank aft of axle, as other manufacturers in the industry, including Audi, BMW, Chrysler, General Motors, and Volvo, continued to manufacture vehicles with aft-of-axle fuel tanks at that time. After investigating the 1993 Lincoln Town Car, the NHTSA chose not to mandate a different location for the tank, concluding that the structural and component design is a more critical factor than fuel tank location in maintaining fuel system integrity. ¶ 98 Given that Ford complied with, and even exceeded, the industry standard set for fuel system integrity, plaintiffs were required to come forward with evidence that despite Ford's compliance, its conduct was otherwise unreasonable because the foreseeable risk posed by the vertical-behind-the-axle design of the fuel tank at the time of manufacture outweighed its utility. ¶ 99 Plaintiffs sought to establish that Ford's conduct in designing the fuel tank was unreasonable because at the time of manufacture, there was a safer alternative feasible tank design either over the axle or forward of the axle. Arndt believed that forward of the axle was the safest tank location a fair amount of the time and presented evidence of a successful crash test with a 1992 Thunderbird with a forward-of-the-axle tank. ¶ 100 Nevertheless, Arndt acknowledged that other variables must also be considered in evaluating the design of a fuel system. Arndt agreed the structure and component design of the particular vehicle are important considerations in maintaining fuel system integrity. The Lincoln Town Car was a heavy-duty six-passenger vehicle, with a deep-well trunk, a body-on-frame construction, which aided in the absorption of energy in a collision, and a solid rear axle, which was less susceptible to damage and less expensive to repair than an independent rear suspension. Arndt additionally acknowledged that an automobile designer must consider collision impacts from all angles. The uncontradicted evidence presented was that the design of the Lincoln Town Car had advantages over the Thunderbird in side-impact collisions. ¶ 101 It was also uncontradicted that moving the tank would have required Ford to completely redesign the vehicle, and would have introduced other risks of equal or greater magnitude, including fuel-fed fires from the filler pipe and tank rupture from other parts of the vehicle. ¶ 102 The over-the-axle tank had its own safety risks. That location was discontinued by Ford in 1972, and by 1994, no other manufacturer in the industry was manufacturing vehicles with an over-the-axle tank. It is not sufficient that the alternative design would have reduced or prevented the harm suffered by the plaintiff if it would also introduce into the product other dangers of equal or greater magnitude. Restatement (Third) of Torts: Products Liability § 2, cmt. f, at 23 (1998). ¶ 103 Ultimately, Arndt agreed with the NHTSA's conclusion that it was appropriate not to dictate fuel tank location because, as he stated, you could probably make a good fuel tank in any location. Accordingly, the evidence presented regarding an alternative feasible design did not support the conclusions that Ford's conduct in locating the fuel tank in the vertical-behind-the-axle location in the 1993 Lincoln Town Car was unreasonable. Plaintiffs must show more than the technical possibility of an alternative design. ¶ 104 Plaintiffs also introduced the Severy research, Ford's internal engineering recommendations from the late 1960s and early 1970s advocating an over-the-axle tank location, and the costs associated with moving the tank to that location. However, these recommendations were made a decade before the Panther platform was introduced. The reasonableness of the vertical-behind-the-axle design for a fuel tank was not considered at that time. Rather, Severy found that the under-the-trunk tank location, inches from the rear bumper, was unsafe because it exposed the tank to rupture at low speeds. Instead, the alternative over-the-axle location was thought by Severy to be an improved location. Thus, this evidence was relevant to the risks associated with the under-the-trunk location and the need to move the tank from that location. It was not evidence from which the jury could conclude that Ford's conduct was unreasonable with respect to an entirely different fuel tank location ultimately chosen for this particular vehicle a decade later which was never tested in Severy's research. ¶ 105 Plaintiffs also introduced evidence that Ford was aware of the potential for trunk contents to puncture the fuel tanks in other designs that Ford ultimately chose not to adopt. However, the risk was so remote that it had never manifested itself with respect to this design in the 15 years that millions of Panther platform vehicles were on the road prior to 1993. Nor was Arndt aware of any accident prior to 1993 involving any vehicle made by any manufacturer where any object in a trunk had ever punctured a fuel tank. Plaintiffs also introduced 416 purportedly substantially similar accidents in support of its contentions. However, there was no evidence that in any of these incidents trunk contents ever punctured the tank in a Panther platform vehicle or in any other vehicle manufactured by Ford or any other manufacturer as of 1993. ¶ 106 Additionally, with respect to shielding, although not required to develop a specific prototype, it was incumbent upon plaintiffs to present evidence that there was a shield that was feasible to prevent trunk contents from puncturing the tank in the 1993 Lincoln Town Car. Regarding the possibility of a shield that would be fitted over the fuel tank, Arndt mocked up a shield that would conceivably fit on the tank, but stated that it was not proven out by crash testing or some sort of design process. With respect to the existence of the optional Kevlar Trunk Pack designed for the Crown Victoria Police Interceptor in 2002, Arndt conceded that the Trunk Pack designed for that vehicle was not appropriate for the 1993 Lincoln Town Car. Although Ford's crash testing at 75 miles per hour revealed that the Upgrade Kit shielding developed to prevent punctures from the component parts surrounding the tank was effective, the experts all agreed that the Upgrade Kit would not have prevented the ruptures that occurred in the Jablonski accident. Accordingly, there was insufficient evidence of a shield that would have been feasible to prevent this accident from occurring. ¶ 107 In sum, after balancing the foreseeable risks and utility factors, plaintiffs failed to present sufficient evidence from which a jury could conclude that at the time of manufacture, Ford's conduct was unreasonable or that it had acted unreasonably in failing to warn about the risk of trunk contents puncturing the tank. It complied with the industry standard for fuel system integrity, it exceeded that standard by its own heightened crash-testing standards, other manufacturers in the industry continued to produce vehicles with aft-of-axle fuel tanks, and despite the clear gravity of the injury, the risk was extremely remote. Additionally, there was no evidence of a feasible shield that would have prevented the injury in this case. Accordingly, there was insufficient evidence to justify the submission of plaintiffs' first three claims of negligence to the jury.