Grandmother Who Lost Grandchild in 'Sudden Acceleration Accident' Claims "Sudden Acceleration Lasted 30 Seconds"

Submission of Written Arguments Ahead of Second Hearing on 27th
Strengthening Sudden Acceleration Claims Citing Recent Precedents and Past Cases

Ahead of the second hearing in the civil lawsuit over liability for the suspected sudden unintended acceleration (SUA) incident that occurred last December in Gangneung, Gangwon Province, the driver who lost his grandson in the accident recently reinforced his argument for sudden unintended acceleration by supplementing evidence with recent precedents and past cases.

According to a report by Yonhap News on the 26th, Ha Jong-seon, a lawyer from the law firm Naru representing the plaintiff, mentioned the loss of reliability of the Event Data Recorder (EDR) and recent acquittals of drivers claiming sudden unintended acceleration in a written submission to the Civil Division 2 of the Chuncheon District Court Gangneung Branch (Presiding Judge Park Jae-hyung).

The appearance of approximately 17,000 petitions gathered from across the country regarding the suspected sudden unintended acceleration incident that occurred in Gangneung, Gangwon last December.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

First, the plaintiff questioned the reliability of the EDR records. The plaintiff argued that there are cases recorded in the EDR where the driver kept pressing the accelerator pedal at 99% even as the vehicle flipped to the right, asserting that the EDR records cannot be trusted. They explained that when a vehicle overturns, the driver’s body falls sideways, making it physically impossible to continuously press the accelerator pedal at 100% or 99%.

Similarly, there is an EDR record case where a driver who lost consciousness after crashing through a wall kept pressing the accelerator pedal at 100%, but this too is physically impossible since the driver was hit in the face by the deployed airbag. Nevertheless, the EDR recorded it as such.

By citing these two past sudden unintended acceleration cases, the plaintiff emphasized the unreliability of the EDR in the current case involving driver A, noting that the EDR recorded the accelerator pedal displacement at 99% or 100% with the brake off, and that an automotive expert professor stated this is a phenomenon that invariably appears in sudden unintended acceleration accidents. Accelerator pedal displacement is a record expressed as a percentage (%) indicating the degree of acceleration, with 99% or above considered 'full throttle.'

Additionally, A’s side referred to a recent precedent where a driver who claimed sudden unintended acceleration in a fatal accident was acquitted in the first trial of a criminal case, highlighting the similarity to this case.

In mid-June, the Daejeon District Court acquitted a driver in his 50s who was charged with causing death under the Special Act on Traffic Accident Handling. The court judged that it is difficult to easily assume a driver who mistakenly pressed the accelerator instead of the brake for about 13 seconds. Regarding this, A’s side emphasized that in this case, the sudden unintended acceleration lasted for about 30 seconds, more than twice as long as 13 seconds.

Contradictions Between Pre-Accident Speed and National Forensic Service EDR Test Results

They also argued that the Daejeon District Court’s judgment that it was unlikely the driver mistook the accelerator for the brake was based on the fact that the accelerator pedal displacement was calculated to be below 50% while the vehicle speed increased from 10.5 km/h → 37.3 km/h → 45.5 km/h → 54.1 km/h → 63.5 km/h → 68 km/h. This reasoning, they claim, can be applied to A’s case as well. Five seconds before the accident, the vehicle speed was 110 km/h and the revolutions per minute (RPM) rose to 5500, but the speed barely increased. The National Forensic Service’s EDR test result stating the accelerator pedal was pressed 100% (full throttle) contradicts this, so they believe sudden unintended acceleration can be proven through EDR analysis.

The scene at the time of the accident last December [Photo by Gangneung Fire Station, Yonhap News]

Plaintiff A was driving a sports utility vehicle (SUV) in Hongje-dong, Gangneung City, Gangwon Province, on December 6 last year, carrying his 12-year-old grandson, when the suspected sudden unintended acceleration accident occurred, resulting in the grandson’s death. A was booked on charges of causing death under the Special Act on Traffic Accident Handling and underwent police investigation in March. A’s family submitted a petition to the National Assembly in February titled “Petition to Shift the Burden of Proof for Defect Causes in Sudden Unintended Acceleration Accidents,” which garnered 50,000 supporters and received letters of support from across the country.

The Civil Division 2 of the Gangneung Branch will hold the second hearing on the approximately 760 million KRW damages claim filed by A and his family against the vehicle manufacturer on the 27th and plans to appoint an expert appraiser.