NHTSA Complaint #11194011 — 2009 TOYOTA RAV4

ON MAY 26, 2016, MY MOTHER WAS TRAVELING NORTH ON I-69 NEAR EDDYVILLE, KENTUCKY IN HER 2009 TOYOTA RAV4 WITH MY SON IN THE FRONT PASSENGER SEAT. A DRIVER TRAVELING SOUTH ON I-69 CROSSED THE MEDIAN INTO THE NORTHBOUND LANE, AND COLLIDED WITH MY MOTHER'S VEHICLE HEAD-ON. AT THE TIME OF THE COLLISION, BOTH MY MOTHER AND SON WERE WEARING THEIR SEAT BELTS, HOWEVER, THE SEAT BELTS DID NOT WORK PROPERLY AND CONTRIBUTED TO MY MOTHER AND SON'S SERIOUS INJURIES. DURING THE COLLISION, THE LAP BELT ON BOTH SEAT BELTS TIGHTENED SUBSTANTIALLY, WHILE THE SHOULDER RESTRAINT NEVER TIGHTENED OR LOCKED. AS A RESULT OF THE SEAT BELT ISSUE, MY SON AND MOTHER SUSTAINED SIGNIFICANT ABDOMINAL INJURIES DUE TO THE EXTREME TIGHTENING OF THE LAP BELT, AND HEAD INJURIES AS A RESULT OF THE FAILURE OF THE SHOULDER RESTRAINT TO PROPERLY LOCK. SPECIFICALLY, MY SON SUSTAINED A LIVER LACERATION, PULMONARY CONTUSION, AND SUPERIOR MESENTERIC ARTERY THROMBOSIS AS A RESULT OF THE EXTREME TIGHTENING OF THE LAP BELT WITHOUT TIGHTENING OF THE SHOULDER RESTRAINT. ADDITIONALLY, BECAUSE THE SHOULDER RESTRAINT FAILED TO WORK PROPERLY, IT DID NOT STOP HIS FORWARD MOMENTUM, CAUSING HIM TO STRIKE HIS HEAD ON THE DASHBOARD OR WINDSHIELD AND SUSTAIN A TRAUMATIC BRAIN INJURY. MY MOTHER SUSTAINED MULTIPLE RIB FRACTURES, A LEFT PNEUMOTHORAX, SMALL BOWEL ENTEROTOMY, MESENTERIC TEAR, AVULSION OF THE SIGMOID COLON, AND TEARING OF HER ABDOMINAL MUSCULATURE AS A RESULT OF THE SEAT BELT. *DT*JB