BELLEVILLE – A motorist claims a Ford Dealership did not properly reassemble his vehicle's airbags, resulting in traumatic brain injuries when the airbags did not deploy in a Belleville crash.
Aaron Van Horne filed a complaint Sept. 29 in the St. Clair County Circuit Court against Auffenberg Belleville LLC, Auffenberg Dealer Group Inc., Auffenberg Ford Inc., and Auffenberg Motors of Illinois Inc., alleging negligence.
Van Horne alleges in his complaint that the Auffenberg Ford Dealership had performed warranty work on his 2007 Ford Mustang that included deactivating and replacing the passenger airbags in the vehicle. He claims that on Oct. 18, 2018, he was driving his vehicle on Carlyle Avenue in Belleville when he was allegedly "forced off the roadway," which caused the driver's door and front of the car to strike "fixed objects." Van Horne alleges the frontal airbag in the car did not deploy and caused him to hit his head and suffer "serious and permanent traumatic brain injuries."
He claims Auffenberg was negligent in failing to "properly" reassemble his car's airbag system or to test the system prior to returning his vehicle.
Van Horne claims he lost "large sums of money" because he can't "pursue his normal gainful occupation." He also claims he has incurred large expenses for hospital and medical treatment.
Van Horne seeks monetary compensation of more than $50,000 and all other just relief. He is represented by Gregory Shevlin of Cook, Bartholomew, Shelvin, Cook & Jones LLP in Belleville.
St. Clair County Circuit Court case number 20-L-0752