SAN ANTONIO -- A San Antonio family is speaking out about a dangerous car safety defect that their son is now paying for for the rest of his life.
In 2012, Jessie Rivera Jr. was sitting in the backseat of his family's Audi A4 when another car rear-ended them. The driver's seat his dad was sitting in collapsed and the back of his head slammed into Jessie's head. Jessie now has permanent brain damage, is partially paralyzed, and blind in one eye.
"That day when my son left for school, I didn't know it was going to be the last time I saw him walking and talking normally," said Kathy Rivera, Jessie's mother. "Now he can't even tell me 'I love you.'"
"Our hearts have been broken from the time I was in the backseat of that car and saw how horrible he was injured to today. It's not ended," Jessie Rivera Sr. said. "My heart breaks every single day that I look at him. It's unimaginable what happened to him, but again, it doesn't have to happen to someone else's child."
A jury found Audi at fault for a defective car seat design and the Rivera family was awarded more than $124 million. The family was represented by the law firm of Wigington Rumley Dunn and Blair and the Law Offices of Fidel Rodriquez Jr. Wigington said automakers have known about seatback failures with various automakers for decades. A CBS News investigation found that more than 100 people nationwide were injured or killed in seatback failures since 1989. The majority were children.
"FMVSS 207, which is the standard that governs seats, has not been updated in 50 years. The manufacturers realized that so they create their own standards," Wigington said. "We don't need more regulation, we just need the 50-year-old regulation updated so manufacturers have something that they have to follow."
The Rivera family hopes, through their case, that safety standards are changed.
"It was a historic verdict for Bexar County, for the country. And obviously, a message has been sent to Audi Volkswagen that these seats, the way they're produced, the way they're designed, are dangerous to children. And my son paid the price for it," Rivera Sr. said. "One more injured child is one too many. My son was enough."
Audi sent KENS5 a statement:
"We of course are not pleased with the verdict but have no comment at this time. We feel very sorry for the father and his son for what happened. We will evaluate the next steps to be taken. We’re not commenting on any possible appeals."
