On December 15, 1997, Hilda Forbes and her three grandchildren were traveling to Columbia, Mississippi, in her 1992 Oldsmobile Delta 88. Mrs. Forbes was driving behind a 1981 Chevrolet Chevette, which suddenly stopped and attempted to turn into a private driveway. Mrs. Forbes struck the Chevette from the rear. Both automobiles were damaged. The air bag in Mrs. Forbes’s automobile did not inflate.
As a result of the impact, Mrs. Forbes was propelled forward into the windshield. She suffered a subdural hematoma. Dr. Howard Katz, a specialist in physical medicine, rehabilitation, and spinal cord injuries, testified by deposition that Mrs. Forbes suffered significant cognitive dysfunction and never completely recovered from the injury to her brain.
The air bag system and Mrs. Forbes’s automobile were manufactured by GM. The owner’s manual contains the following statement, “The ‘air bag’ part of the SIR [Supplemental Inflatable Restraint] system is in the middle of the steering wheel. The SIR system is only for crashes where the front area of your vehicle hits something. If the collision is hard enough, the ‘air bag’ inflates in a fraction of a second.” Mr. Forbes asked the salesman about the air bag and was assured that the car had an effective one.
On December 7, 2000, Hilda and Hoyt Forbes filed suit against Angela Coleman and later added GM as a defendant. GM moved for a directed verdict, which the judge also granted. The Forbeses appealed on the grounds that GM had breached an express warranty. Was there an express warranty made? Discuss the relevant issues in reaching your conclusion. [Forbes v General Motors Corp., 935 So2d 869, (Miss)]