Kristin Hopkins, the Colorado woman who was trapped in her car for nearly a week after falling off a local highway, is suing General Motors over defects she claims they were aware of in her 2009 Chevy Malibu that ultimately led to the crash.
Hopkins, 45, who lost the lower half of both her legs following the April 2014 crash, filed a federal lawsuit Tuesday claiming her car's electronic stability control failed to engage and the its electronic power steering gave out on Red Hill Pass near Fairplay before making the eventful crash, according to Reuters.
Her lawyer, Kurt Zaner, said both systems were covered in recalls issued by GM following the crash. However, he noted, by citing GM documents provided to the National Traffic Safety Administration, that the company was aware of the Malibu's stability control defects since 2008, a whole six years before the crash.
"These are real lives being affected by corporate decisions," he told The Denver Post. "Maybe this teaches GM a lesson - don't wait so long to issue a recall."
Though GM declined to specifically comment on the claims, it issued a statement saying it would investigate to determine what happened and why.
The lawsuit reveals a former Chrysler engineer hired by Zaner discovered that data on the black box of the crashed Malibu linked the defects described in the recalls to the crash.
Hopkins fell 140 feet down an embankment after going off the road, winding up in an aspen grove. Bleeding and suffering from multiple injuries, the woman spent six days trapped inside the car in below freezing temperatures with instant oatmeal as her only source of nourishment. She was ultimately found by passing motorist who contacted rescuers, who then managed to save her life but found that her legs were already beyond repair, according to Newser.
As she was learning to walk on prosthetic limbs at a Denver rehabilitation center, the lawsuit alleges Hopkins finally received the recall notice that would have prevented the incident from occurring in the first place.
"This piece of mail cruelly notified her that she should take her Malibu in for repairs as its safety systems may not work if she finds herself in a crash avoidance situation," the lawsuit said.
