Hagens Berman Investigates Defective Kia Air Bags

PHOENIX--Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro announced today that it has begun an investigation into Kia Motors Corp (000270.KS) and its occupant classification system, or OCS, after claims that adults weighing less than 130 pounds deactivate the air bags in the passenger seat, leaving passengers at significant risk if there’s an accident and the air bags don’t deploy.

The investigation includes all Kia models made between 2006 and 2009. Federal law requires all vehicles to be equipped with front passenger air bags, and problems with the OCS may deprive smaller passengers of any front air bag protection.

The OCS is part of the advanced air bag system of a vehicle. These systems use sensors in the passenger seat to determine if the front air bag should be enabled depending on whether the passenger is a child or adult, and there’s no way to override the system. HBSS is investigating whether Kia’s occupant clarification system fails to correctly detect the presence of smaller adults and deactivates the front air bag for these adult passengers.

The law firm is also investigating claims that Kia was aware of the problem and failed to disclose this defect to owners and new purchasers.

If you own a Kia manufactured between 2006 and 2009, you can contact Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro to discuss your options. Owners can e-mail rob@hbsslaw.com or call 602-840-5900 to discuss the investigation.

You can also join this investigation at www.hbsslaw.com/kiaairbags. HBSS will treat all information shared as confidential.

About Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro

Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro is a nationally recognized class-action and complex-litigation law firm based in Seattle with offices in San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, Los Angeles and Phoenix. Among recent successes, HBSS negotiated a $300 million settlement in the DRAM memory antitrust litigation, the largest antitrust settlement in U.S. history, recovered $340 million on behalf of Enron employees, and was part of the leadership team in the $3 billion Visa/MasterCard settlement. In pharmaceutical litigation, the firm's recent successes include a $350 million settlement with McKesson, more than $200 million with other parties in drug-pricing litigation, and a $150 million settlement regarding Lupron. HBSS represented Washington and 12 other states against the tobacco industry that resulted in the largest settlement in history. For a complete listing of HBSS cases, visit www.hbsslaw.com.