CLEARWATER, Fla. — A hit-and-run driver caused a chain reaction accident last week that temporarily closed a major road, damaged six cars, and sent two people to the hospital.
One driver is counting herself lucky she wasn’t seriously injured after she said an important safety system in her car, her airbags, failed to activate.
Pamela Orr was driving home from work at around 7:30 p.m. on Dec. 18 in her 2017 Chevy Bolt when she was hit by a suspected drunk driver, who, according to reports, was traveling at “an extremely high rate of speed.”
Three sides damaged, but no airbags deployed
“I really consider that a miracle that I was alive and didn’t have a bone broken or anything,” Pamela Orr said.
Orr’s Chevy was struck on the rear passenger side.
“The side of the car was hit so violently that the wheel was taken off the car,” her husband, DJ Orr, said.
The vehicle spun around and was hit by another oncoming car, then struck a concrete barrier.
Three sides were damaged when it came to rest, but none of the car’s airbags were deployed.
2017 Chevy Bolt selected as “Top Safety Pick”
Orr said she bought the car because she believed it was extremely safe and was listed as a “Top Safety Pick” by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety and had good crash test evaluations from that organization.
“A couple of days later, I decided to see if I could find answers,” Pamela said.
She said she called the dealer where her car was regularly serviced, and they referred her to General Motors.
She says she spent hours on the phone and text chat but found no conclusive answers.
Pamela says nobody would agree to examine her car or its event data recorder.
Her husband, who is an engineer, found that troubling.
Unanswered questions
“Did those airbags actually receive the signal to deploy, or did they not? And that’s a yes or no question,” DJ Orr said. “And it’s the kind of data that can be obtained by simply hooking the diagnostic electronics up to the vehicle and fetching the information.”
The Orrs were told they would have to pay an outside company thousands of dollars to access that information, so they were unable to get information from the event data recorder before their insurance company took possession of the car.
They agreed to talk to the I-Team because they worried something similar could happen to someone else who might not be so lucky.
“You see a system that doesn’t appear to really work in the favor of safety, which would help everybody. That car company as well as the consumers,” DJ Orr said.
“Absolutely, I am blessed I am alive. But I bought a product I have questions about. And it should be my right to get answers,” Pamela Orr said.
We contacted the General Motors media relations office and sent pictures of the Orrs’ vehicle.
GM says it will look into the case
A company spokesperson called us back late Wednesday afternoon.
He thanked us for bringing the incident to their attention and said he would have someone from the company contact the Orrs.
We checked the VIN on Pamela’s car and found no unrepaired recalls.
If you have a story you’d like the I-Team to investigate, email us at adam@abcactionnews.com
