Florida mother Destiny Byassee killed when airbags ‘exploded like a grenade’

US News

From Katherine Donlevy

A young Florida mother was killed last year when her car’s fake airbag “exploded like a grenade,” a lawsuit says.

Destiny Byassee’s used 2020 Chevy Malibu passed several impostors before its fake emergency airbags deployed in a head-on collision in June, causing an explosion that “shot metal and plastic shards throughout the car,” her family claims.

“Several pieces of shrapnel from the explosion struck Ms. Byassee in the face, head and neck, ultimately killing her,” says the lawsuit, obtained by Law & Crime.

The 22-year-old “was a mother of two young children and had her whole life ahead of her,” attorney John Morgan, who also represents the family, said in a news release.

According to the lawsuit, Byassee purchased the doomed sedan from DriveTime, a national used car company, without obtaining a complete history of the car.

Enterprise Rent-A-Car’s former car was involved in a devastating accident in September 2022, causing damage “so significant that the vehicle should have been declared a total loss, a salvage title issued and taken out of service,” it says it claims in the lawsuit.

Instead of scrapping the vehicle, Enterprise reportedly sold the car to DriveTime through Manheim Auctions, Inc., which bills itself as the largest automobile auction company in the world.

It was then repaired at Jumbo Automotive in Hollywood, Florida, the complaint continues, alleging that store owner Haim Levy purchased “counterfeit and non-compliant airbag components” from a Chinese company to replace the Chevrolet factory airbag, and then installed these components to create the Chevy Malibu theme.”

Not only were the dangerous counterfeit bags used, but Levy also allegedly repaired the deployed seatbelt pretensioner – the part of a complete system that tightens the belt in the event of an accident – incorrectly, but in a sophisticated way that made it appear that he was worked properly.

Byassee “had no idea that the vehicle had been improperly and illegally repaired,” her family said.

Both the fake airbag and the defective seatbelt pretensioner “were prompted to deploy in the June 2023 collision,” the lawsuit says.

“However, because the Chevy Malibu’s driver-side front seatbelt pretensioner was inoperable, the seatbelt pretensioner did not release as originally intended,” the lawsuit states. “Worse still, because the Chevy Malibu’s driver’s side front airbag system contained counterfeit and non-compliant components, the airbag exploded like a grenade, shooting fragments of metal and plastic throughout the vehicle’s cabin.”

The filing specifically said that photos showed the “horrific event,” including one of the “torn and blood-soaked driver’s side airbags.”

Cathy King, Byassee’s grandmother, filed the lawsuit on behalf of the six- and four-year-old children the young woman left behind, as well as her husband and mother.

Byassee “believed she was purchasing a safe and reliable vehicle, but our lawsuit alleges that multiple automobile companies worked to circumvent the system by repairing a vehicle that should have been totaled, all on her own “to make money,” Morgan said in the press release.

“As a result, Ms. Byassee has lost her life and her children will grow up without their mother.”

The lawsuit seeks a jury trial on 14 different counts against the various defendants – including strict liability, negligence and deceptive trade practices.

Neither Enterprise, Manheim, DriveTime nor Jumbo Automotive immediately responded to the Post’s request for comment.