Kia Sorento Lawsuit Alleges Woman Paralyzed Due to Front Passenger Seat Defects

Pennsylvania couple claims the passenger seat in their Kia Sorento collapsed when the vehicle was rear ended.

According to allegations raised in a recently filed product liability lawsuit, a Pennsylvania woman was paralyzed when the front passenger seat in her 2022 Kia Sorento vehicle suddenly collapsed, after being rear ended by a pickup truck two years ago.

The complaint (PDF) was brought by Hank and Donna Schmoyer in the Philadelphia Court of Common Pleas on March 31, naming Kia Corporation, Kia America, Inc., Kia Motors, Inc., Kia Motors America, Inc., Allentown Car Connection, Inc., doing business as Allentown Kia, Adrian Zimmerman, Jerry Martin, and other unnamed entities as the defendants.

The lawsuit claims that at about 11:00 a.m. on April 29, 2023, the Schmoyers were driving their 2022 Kia Sorento south on Pennsylvania Route 222 in Lancaster County when a Chevy pickup truck driven by Adrian Zimmerman and owned by his employer Jerry Martin struck the rear of their vehicle.

The impact allegedly caused the Sorento’s front passenger seat to collapse, leaving Donna Schmoyer permanently paralyzed.

When Zimmerman’s truck struck their vehicle, the Schmoyers claim that the front passenger seat of their vehicle, where Donna Schmoyer was riding, failed to maintain its structural integrity and collapsed. Furthermore, the trunk space of the vehicle crumpled, leading to severe injuries on the part of Donna Schmoyer.

The Schmoyers indicate in the Kia Sorento lawsuit that the front passenger seat in their vehicle collapsed due to design defects, resulting in life-changing injuries.

The Schmoyers argue that an ordinary driver or passenger would have no way to detect the defect, which they attribute to the manufacturers’ inadequate testing and inspection.

As a result of the seat collapsing, Donna Schmoyer suffered a number of serious injuries, including spinal cord fractures, which led to paraplegia and complete paralysis from the chest down, the lawsuit indicates.

At the same time, the complaint states that Hank Schmoyer suffered severe emotional distress from watching his wife become paralyzed.

“The subject vehicle did not perform safely as an ordinary customer would have expected it to perform when used in an intended way and/or used in an unintended but reasonably foreseeable way, and thus was defective under the consumer expectation test,” the Schmoyers said. “A reasonable person would conclude that the possibility and seriousness of harm outweighed the burden or cost of making the subject vehicle safe.”

The Schmoyers are raising allegations of negligence, breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty of merchantability, and breach of implied warranty of fitness for a particular purpose against the Kia defendants. 

The complaint also accuses Adrian Zimmerman of negligence for causing the crash and says his employer, Jerry Martin, is both vicariously liable and guilty of negligent entrustment for letting him drive the pickup.

The complaint seeks both compensatory and punitive damages, and Hank Schmoyer is also seeking damages for negligent infliction of emotional distress and for loss of consortium.