Woman loses ABS icon lawsuit

By
CMG Staff
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The moral of this story is, make sure you know how your motorcycle, and how its features work.
The moral of this story is, make sure you know how your motorcycle, and how its features work.

Judy Wilson has lost her case against Harley-Davidson and a Sacramento, California, dealer.

As we told you last week, Wilson was seriously injured in a motorcycle accident when her husband, thinking their Harley-Davidson had ABS, locked up their rear brakes coming to an emergency stop.

Wilson and her now-estranged husband said Harley-Davidson contributed to the accident by including an ABS icon on their tachometer, and their dealer contributed by insinuating their motorcycle had ABS. Their ABS icon did not light up, though, just as many car dashes have unused lights that don’t light up. They’d had the bike for 15 months before the accident.

Harley-Davidson’s lawyers contended their bikes were built this way to streamline production, and to ensure that all ABS-equipped bikes were marked appropriately, and the dealer flat-out denied ever telling the Wilsons they had ABS.

The jury agreed with the defendants after a weekend of deliberation, leaving Wilson with nothing. She had turned down an earlier settlement offer of $900,000.

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5 COMMENTS

  1. It’s two years ago, I know…
    But I just wanted to report a common misconception that having ABS equals “Brake all you can, you can’t go down (and you’ll always stop in time).”

    • I am so glad that these people won nothing!  It is wrong to blame someone else for an accident…which was probably augmented by not paying attention while riding.  As the old saying goes, “Don’t wish it was easier, wish you were better.”

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