Court Opinion

ID: 9851342
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-09-24 05:10:59.462557+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T09:20:53.925880
License: Public Domain

Lewis, Chief Justice
(dissenting):
This is a products liability case brought by appellants, in separate actions, to recover damages sustained when their vehicle was struck by an on-coming General Motors vehicle (Oldsmobile) which was out of control due to the fact that it had lost a wheel. The evidence revealed that the wheel had separated from the Oldsmobile due to the shearing off of the lugs at the face of the axle-plate. Expert testimony indicated that lugs had previously been weakened by an overtightening of the lug nuts. The complaints alleged separate causes of action based upon negligence, breach of warranty, and strict tort liability with respect to the design of the lug bolts used in the Oldsmobile automobile. Upon the trial of the case, the trial judge directed a verdict in favor of General Motors and a jury returned a verdict for the remaining defendants. This appeal is from the order of the lower court directing a verdict in favor of respondent General Motors Corporation.
Appellants purchased the Oldsmobile in 1975 and the wheels were changed or rotated on the car in October 1975. The car was driven approximately 9000 miles after October 1975, when a wheel fell off in March 1976 causing the driver to lose control, which resulted in the present accident.
The wheels were last rotated before the accident by an employee of the General Motors dealer, the defendant Coastal Buick-Oldsmobile Company, who used a four-star lug wrench to tighten the lug bolts instead of a torque wrench. While a torque wrench measures the torque applied in tightening bolts, the torque applied in the use of a four-star lug wrench depends upon the pressure applied by the one using the wrench. There is testimony that a man of normal size, using a star wrench or common lug wrench, could exert the necessary pull to initially crack the lug bolt. Tests demonstrated that, *267with the application of pressure of 200 foot pounds in tightening the lug bolt, a crack, visible only under a microscope, would develop, which would be sufficient to later result in a complete breakdown of the lug bolt under normal driving conditions.
Expert testimony offered by appellants was to the effect that fatigue failure of the lug bolts probably caused the wheel to fall off and that the cause of the failure was over-tightening of the lug nuts creating cracks in the lug bolts which under driving conditions caused a complete breakdown in the bolt.
There is also testimony that a relatively inexpensive increase in the size of the lug bolt would prevent the damage involved in this case.
While the service manual provided by General Motors specifies that 80 pounds of torque be applied in tightening each lug bolt, it contains no warning against overtorqueing, nor does the manual recommend the use of a torque wrench in tightening the lug bolts.
We have adopted the rule that a supplier and manufacturer of a chattel are liable to all whom they should expect will use the chattel or be endangered by its use if (1) they know or have reason to know that the chattel is or is illcely to be dangerous for the use for which it is supplied, (2) they have no reason to believe that the user will realize the potential danger, and (3) they fail to exercise reasonable care to inform of its dangerous condition or of the facts which make it likely to be dangerous. Gardner v. Q. H. S. Inc. (5th Cir.) 448 F. (2d) 238; Mickle v. Blackmon, 252 S. C. 202, 166 S. E. (2d) 173; 2 Restatement of Torts, Sections 388 and 395.
The threshold issue is whether there is any evidence tending to show a defect in the product involved. Various tests have been formulated to determine whether a product is defective. None, however, are inflexible, and the determination of whether a product is defective must be made under the facts of the particular case in the light of the intended use for which the product was manufactured. As stated in Dunham v. Vaughan & Bushnell Mfg. Company, 42 Ill. (2d) 339, 247 N. E. (2d) 401:
*268Although the definitions of the term ‘defect’ in the context of products liability law use varying language, all of them rest upon the common premise that those products are defective which are dangerous because they fail to perform in the manner reasonably to be expected in light of their nature and intended function.
It is recognized that a product which is manufactured as intended may be defective where it is improperly or inadequately designed. 72 C.J.S. Supp. Products Liability ... Section 19. Among the recognized defects of design is the issue of material in the product which is of inadequate strength or quality. Mickle v. Blackmon, supra, 252 S. C. 202, 166 S. E. (2d) 173; 2 American Law of Products Liability, Section 9:9. In Mickle, we held the manufacturer liable where it could reasonably be concluded that a motor vehicle was manufactured from material “which could not tolerate a frequently encountered aspect of the environment in which it would be employed.”
Under the present testimony, a jury issue was presented as to whether respondent had created a defective condition in its product by failure to use a lug bolt of sufficient strength or quality to withstand clearly foreseeable uses. While a product is not required to be perfect, it must be such as will withstand uses ordinarily associated with the product.
It is common knowledge that the detachment of the wheel of an automobile is inevitable in the ordinary everyday use of the vehicle. For this reason, the manufacturer provided for the attachment of the wheel by lug bolts and included in its service manual directions as to the torque to be applied in tightening the lug nuts.
There is testimony indicating that overtorqueing is not a difficult act in tightening lug bolts on an automobile with a lug wrench. It is common knowledge that automobiles are equipped with lug wrenches, instead of torque wrenches which are capable of accurately measuring the torque applied. All tires or wheels on automobiles are not changed at service stations or garages where a torque wrench might be available. The desire to be sure that the wheel will not come off impels *269the tendency in the average individual to tighten the lug bolts as tightly as possible. Unless one is warned of the danger of over-tightening, the desire for safety could cause the effect of cracking the lug bolt with the resulting damages here alleged.
Nowhere in the service manual of General Motors is the use of a torque wrench recommended nor does the record reveal any express or implied warning of the inherent risk involved if the torque requirements were not met. We think General Motors owed a duty to warn the users of its products of the dangers involved in over-torqueing the lug bolts.
The service manager of the defendant Coastal Buick-Qldsmobile Company (the General Motors dealer) testified that it was not an unusual occurrence, in his experience, to observe lug bolts and nuts on General Motors’ cars, which had broken off. The respondent’s service manual contained instructions on the amount of torque to be used when the lugs were being replaced, thereby indicating that respondent was aware of the existence of a possible danger. There was ample evidence indicating that respondent knew, or had reason to know of the defect or danger in the lug bolts placed on its vehicles. See: Hiigel v. General Motors Corporation, (Colo.) 544 P. (2d) 983.
Therefore, the record is susceptible of the reasonable inference that respondent owed a duty to warn users of its automobiles of the potential danger from over-torqueing the lug bolts. The fact that the service manual contained the torque requirements did not meet this duty to warn. The court stated in Hiigel, supra, “that the duty to warn may not be satisfied by directions which merely tell how to use the product, but say nothing about the inherent and specific dangers if directions are not followed.”
The applicable principles governing the question of adequacy of warnings are thus succinctly stated in 1 Frumer and Friedman on Products Liability, Section 8.05:
There is substantial authority that the manufacturer must give both adequate warning of the potential danger. Directions and warnings serve different purposes. Direc*270tions are required to assure effective use; warning to assure safe use. It is clear from the better-reasoned cases that directions for use which merely tell how to use the product, and which do not say anything about the danger of foreseeable misuse, do not necessarily satisfy the duty to warn.
The evidence tending to show a failure to properly design a reasonably safe lug bolt for foreseeable uses, and to provide any warning of the dangers incident to over-torqueing was sufficient to show a defect entitling the plaintiffs to recover under any one of their alternative theories; and the trial judge was in error in directing a verdict for respondent.
I would accordingly reverse and remand the cause for a new trial as to respondent General Motors Corporation.
Harwell, J., concurs.