In Brief
A car buyer purchased a Hyundai Creta primarily for its advertised safety features, including front airbags. After a serious frontal collision in 2017, the airbags failed to deploy, and the buyer sustained injuries. The manufacturer argued the impact lacked sufficient force to trigger deployment. The State and National Consumer Commissions found this a defect in fitness under consumer law and awarded compensation including punitive damages. The Supreme Court upheld the award, holding that when a vehicle with airbags suffers substantial frontal damage but fails to deploy them, it breaches the implied warranty of safety. The Court rejected the manufacturer's technical argument, noting consumers need not understand complex physics; the physical damage itself establishes the defect. Punitive damages were warranted to deter similar manufacturer defaults in critical safety features.
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