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Family of 12-year-old victim loses sudden acceleration lawsuit against automaker

Published: 13 May. 2025, 17:26

Plaintiffs in the Gangneung suspected sudden acceleration accident case speak to the press outside the Gangneung branch of the Chuncheon District Court in Nangok-dong, Gangneung, Gangwon, on May 13. [YONHAP]

The bereaved family of a suspected sudden unintended acceleration incident in Gangneung, Gangwon, lost the first trial in a damages lawsuit against the vehicle manufacturer.

Attention had been drawn to whether this would become the first case in which a consumer wins a sudden acceleration related lawsuit, but after about two years and six months of deliberation, the court dismissed all of the plaintiff's claims.

Major cases pending at Supreme Court

The Chuncheon District Court ruled against the plaintiff in the first trial of a 920-million-won damage lawsuit filed by the bereaved family of the late Lee Do-hyun against the manufacturer KG Mobility on Tuesday. The Gangneung accident compensation suit drew attention as it could have become the first case to recognize manufacturer liability, but the family lost in the first instance.

To date, there is no Supreme Court precedent recognizing sudden acceleration caused by vehicle defect. Article 3-2 of the current Product Liability Act places the burden of proof for presumed defect not on the manufacturer but on the injured customer.

Major accidents suspected to have occurred due to sudden acceleration are still pending at the Supreme Court. In the 2016 Busan Santa Fe accident in Nam District, Busan, where a car en route to a water park crashed resulting in the death of four of the five family members in the vehicle, both the first and second trials ruled against the bereaved family in their damages suit against the manufacturer, Hyundai Motor.

The 64-year-old driver's wife, daughter and two grandchildren died.

“We cannot rule out the possibility that the driver either failed to press the brake pedal at the time of the accident due to an unknown cause or mistakenly pressed the accelerator pedal,” the Busan High Court, which handled the appeal, said in May 2023.

Regarding the private appraisal submitted by the plaintiff, the court ruled, “It is difficult to trust due to procedural fairness and objectivity issues during the appraisal process.” The bereaved family appealed in July 2023, and the case is currently under review by the Supreme Court.

A reenactment test aimed at determining whether a vehicle defect caused a suspected sudden unintended acceleration accident that killed 12-year-old Lee Do-hyun in Gangneung in December 2022 is conducted on Hoesan-ro in Gangneung on April 19 last year. [YONHAP]

The only case

Though at the lower court level, there is a case where the manufacturer’s liability was partially recognized. In a suspected sudden acceleration incident on the Honam Expressway in May 2018, where a couple died while driving in a BMW, the bereaved family lost in the first trial but won in the second.

In November 2020, the appellate court ruled partially in favor of the plaintiff, ordering “BMW Korea to pay 40 million won each to the bereaved.”

“While the driver was operating the vehicle under normal conditions, the accident resulted from a failure within the manufacturer’s exclusive realm of responsibility,” said the Seoul Central District Court, which heard the appeal, acknowledging vehicle defect.

The court considered that a BMW Korea employee had inspected the car two days prior to the accident, that an emergency warning light activated during high-speed driving at 200 kilometers per hour, and that the driver had no prior record of speeding habits or fines.

This is the only case in which manufacturer negligence was acknowledged in the second trial, and BMW appealed, with the case still pending at the Supreme Court.

Judgment on vehicle defects differs in criminal cases

In criminal trials, unlike civil ones, drivers are sometimes found not guilty. However, this is due to the nature of criminal trials, where under the presumption of innocence, the prosecutor must prove the driver’s negligence. It does not mean that manufacturer liability is recognized.

In November 2005, the Supreme Court acquitted an employee of a designated driver service, surnamed Park, who caused a 10-vehicle pile up while driving a Mercedes-Benz in Mapo District, western Seoul. The court only stated, “There is strong suspicion that the accident occurred under uncontrollable circumstances.”

Even in criminal cases, court decisions vary. In December 2020, in an incident where a 50-something driver’s Grandeur vehicle suddenly sped out of an underground parking lot at Korea University in Seongbuk District, central Seoul, killing a security guard in his 60s, the first trial ruled not guilty, while the second trial ruled guilty.

“It is reasonable to suspect a vehicle defect, as the brake lights turned on several times while the car veered to avoid the victim,” said the court.

However, the appellate court overturned the verdict, stating, “It is difficult to see that there was a sudden acceleration due to a vehicle defect,” and sentenced the driver to one year in prison, suspended for two years.

A suspected sudden unintended acceleration accident takes place in Gangneung in December last year. [GANGNEUNG FIRE STATION]

Gangneung case: Police cleared driver of charges

In the Gangneung case, police cleared the driver of charges. Police judged that the National Forensic Service's appraisal had limitations and that the evidence was insufficient to support the claim that the accident was caused by driver negligence.

This lawsuit began on Dec. 6, 2022, when a Tivoli Air vehicle drove into a drainage ditch on a road in Gangneung, resulting in the death of a 12-year-old boy, Lee Do-hyun.

The case gained attention after a black box video was released, showing the boy's grandmother, who was driving, shouting for about 30 seconds, “Why isn’t this working, Do-hyun?”

Translated from the JoongAng Ilbo using generative AI and edited by Korea JoongAng Daily staff.
BY CHOI SEO-IN [[email protected]]