Know more. Savage, Tulsa, and Doyle Watson, Drumright, for appellant. Jones, Tulsa, for appellee. The issue for us in this case is the present and the future of products liability litigation in Oklahoma. Much we do in this case may set the pattern of such litigation in Oklahoma and may determine whether this young, vigorous and progressive State shall now meet the challenge of the mass advertising of today, its hypnosis, and the pace and flow of the economics of the late twentieth century.
Most of us were born in the waning days of the use of either animal or steam power and today we find ourselves anticipating the wonders of an age of jets, rockets, genetic science, and atomic energy. The law, likewise, finds itself confronted with the problems of change, not only in the field of torts, but probably in all of its many and broad areas.
Plaintiff was injured in an automobile accident occurring as she entered I in Tulsa County at approximately a. It developed that GM had mailed, on September 29, , a notice to all owners of Opels a "recall" letter indicating "the seat back adjustment mechanism on your Opel may develop excessive clearance between the gears of the adjustor. It seemed that I had no support behind me and I fell backward and I was looking at the ceiling and I did not know where I was going.
I could not control the car. She further indicated that after falling backward she could not reach the steering wheel and did not remember the head-on impact with an automobile in the opposite lane, recalling only the bump or jar as the Opel struck the median. During the trial GM introduced the seat from the automobile which Plaintiff was driving and its use was demonstrated before the jury; an expert for the Defendant company testified that in his opinion the seat was not defective and explained why.
The defendant company also introduced evidence of five witnesses β two policemen, a fireman, an ambulance driver, and a wrecker operator β that within a short time of the accident there was "a strong odor of alcohol" in the Plaintiff's car, about her person, and in the closed ambulance. Plaintiff admitted she had drunk two beers about p. Plaintiff's pleadings contain no allegation as to negligence of GM as such; she alleged that her injuries were proximately caused by the defective seat adjustment present in the automobile in question.
