French appeals court confirms Volvo guilty over death crash

Thursday, December 18, 2008

An appeals court in Eastern France has confirmed the Swedish car manufacturer Volvo is guilty over the deaths of two schoolchildren aged nine and ten and the serious injury of a third after a brakes failure caused an accident in 1999.

The Volvo 850 TDI was being driven by a local teacher when it struck the children, who had been on their way to school. Driver Catherine Kohtz later asserted that the brake pedal had become stiff and the brakes themselves unresponsive as she traveled along the steep road.

Expert examination of the vehicle after the crash confirmed that the braking system was flawed. Volvo had known there was a potential issue with the brakes but had not issued a recall of the affected cars for modifications.

The court confirmed Volvo should pay a 200,000 euro fine. The court also confirmed that Kohtz should pay a 300 euro fine and receive a six-month suspended sentence and temporary revocation of her driving license for failure to control the Volvo.

The ruling also said that two French national papers should cover the decision.

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Sources

"French court confirms Volvo fine over fatal crash" — Agence French-Presse, December 18, 2008
"French appeals court confirms Volvo's guilt in children's deaths" — Monsters and Critics, December 18, 2008

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Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections.

Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.