In the first instance ruling of a civil lawsuit regarding the responsibility of a suspected vehicle sudden acceleration accident that led to the death of 12-year-old Lee Do-hyun in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, in December 2022, the court decided in favor of the defendant.
On the 13th, the Civil Division 2 of the Chuncheon District Court Gangneung branch (Judge Park Sang-joon) ruled in favor of the defendant in a lawsuit filed by the driver A and the family of the deceased Do-hyun, seeking 920 million won in damages against the automobile manufacturer KG Mobility (KGM).
The accident occurred on December 6, 2022, around 3:56 PM on a road in Hongjae-dong, Gangneung City. The Tivoli Air vehicle driven by A crashed into a drainage ditch, resulting in the loss of life of Do-hyun, who was a passenger and A's grandson.
The driver and the bereaved family claimed that the accident was caused by 'sudden acceleration' and filed a lawsuit against the manufacturer.
The court did not accept the family's assertion that "the sudden acceleration occurred due to a defect in the electronic control unit (ECU) software, and the automatic emergency braking assist system (AEB) did not function during the rapid acceleration, which could have prevented this accident.”
After examining the claims from both sides, the court determined, “It is difficult to acknowledge that this accident occurred due to an ECU defect, as it appears that the driver mistook the accelerator pedal for the brake and pressed down on the accelerator.”
After the ruling, Do-hyun's father, Lee Sang-hoon, expressed his intent to appeal immediately.
For the past two and a half years, the family of Do-hyun and the manufacturer KGM have engaged in intense legal battles over the key issue of 'pedal misoperation.'
The family of Do-hyun argued, “It is impossible for the driver to confuse the accelerator pedal with the brake pedal during the approximately 30 seconds of the sudden acceleration event,” claiming it was a typical sudden acceleration accident caused by a defect in the ECU software.
Conversely, KGM countered the claims by citing the accident recording device (EDR) that documented full acceleration and analysis from the National Forensic Service (NFS) as evidence of pedal misoperation.
Image source: jtbc 'Han Moon-cheol's Black Box Review,' scene of the suspected sudden acceleration accident that occurred in Gangneung in December 2022 / Gangneung Fire Station.
