(Los Fresnos, TX) Houston attorney Benny Agosto, Jr. and another attorney of Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Agosto, Aziz & Stogner, Jacob Karam of the Karam Law Office, and Jesse Contreras of the Law Offices of Jesse Contreras have filed a products liability and wrongful death lawsuit in Cameron County, Texas against General Motors, LLC, and DLG SEE LLC, dba, El Guero Auto Parts Y Auto Sale (“El Guero Auto Parts”) on behalf of the family of Maria Zamora, a wife, mother, and grandmother and her two minor grandchildren, who were killed in a tragic motor vehicle accident involving a defective wheel and defective tire pressure monitoring (TPM) system. The lawsuit has also been filed on behalf of Griselda Solis de Calixto, the driver of the defective GM vehicle.
On September 2, 2020, Mrs. Zamora was driving south on FM 803 in Los Fresnos, Texas with her two daughters, Larissa and Ziza Zamora, and her three young grandchildren, ages 3, 4, and 6. The family was on their way to register the children for school. At the same time, Mrs. Calixto was driving north on FM 803, when suddenly and without any advance warning from the onboard TPM system, the left rear tire of her 2008 GMC Yukon experienced a rapid deflation event. The event was caused by defects in the GM manufactured wheel and TPM system. The wheel defect allows air to escape from a tire, which can in turn lead to a rapid deflation event and tire blowout. As captured by the onboard computer, the defective TPM sensors failed to warn Mrs. Calixto of the low tire pressure caused by the defective wheel. The blowout caused Mrs. Calixto to lose control of her vehicle, veer into the southbound lane of traffic, and collide head on with the Zamora’s vehicle. As a result of the left rear wheel failure, all passengers in both vehicles sustained catastrophic injuries and three passengers, Mrs. Zamora and two of her grandchildren, lost their
lives.
Mrs. Calixto’s vehicle was riding on four GMC Z88 EXC Hybrid HP2 cast aluminum wheels designed, tested, manufactured, assembled, inspected, marketed, and sold by GM. The vehicle was also equipped with GM’s tire pressure monitoring (TPM) system. The GM manufactured wheels are prone to corrosion which allows air to escape from a tire and can in turn lead to a rapid deflation event and tire blowout. The deflation dangers caused by the wheel are compounded by defective TPM sensors, manufactured by GM, which fail to warn a user of low tire pressure. Unknown to Mrs. Calixto, her vehicle had both defective components.
The wheel and TPM system were designed, manufactured, assembled, tested, marketed, and sold in an unsafe, unreasonably dangerous and defective condition, were defective in their design, manufacture, assembly, and warnings, and were defective and unreasonably dangerous due to inadequate, or the absence of, warnings, recalls or instructions, including warning stickers, placards or proper documentation to alert users of the hazardous conditions. GM has been aware of these defects for years but has failed to issue a recall.
El Guero Auto Parts sold the defective aluminum cast wheel to Mrs. Calixto. El Guero Auto Parts failed to convey that the wheel had an unreasonable propensity to cause a tire to deflate and/or explode under normal use and foreseeable conditions, failed to convey that the wheel had known defects, including the propensity to deflate, and failed to adequately inspect the wheel.
For questions regarding the lawsuit or for interview requests, please contact Madison Kauffman at [email protected] or 713-222-7211 or Benny Agosto, Jr. at [email protected].