ベントレーのドアは危ない・・・、ってクレーム

アメリカといえばコカコーラ、マクドナルド、そして訴訟です。どんな些細なことだろうと、自己責任だと思うようなことでも、法的に突っ込める余地があれば、ズドーンと訴訟です。しかも恐ろしいのは日本と違って懲罰的損害賠償があることですよねぇ・・・。
フォードGTフォーラムに警告文が掲載されていたんです・・・、ベントレー・フライング・スパーについて。なぜにフォードGTフォーラムだったのか、担当者にはよくわかりません。っで、何が問題か？最近の高級車に標準装備されているドアの「ソフト・クローズ」機構です。YouTubeを漁ってみると、思いのほかソフト・クローズ機構に特化した動画が見つけづらく・・・、発見したのはアウディA8のモノです（おそらく同じ部品を共有？？）。

なんでも、62歳の女性、親指を挟んでしまったらしく、それでもフライング・スパーのドアは自動的にクローズ・・・。要は安全機構が存在しない、という論点です。しかも一度閉まると、しばらくドアハンドルが反応しないことがJalopnikによって検証されています。

うーん、これは巨額損害賠償に発展する可能性がデカいですねぇ。世界中の輩の皆さん、ごぞって参加しそうな予感もしますわ・・・。
側面衝突によるドアの開閉困難がネックなんでしょうけど、やっぱりこんな感じのドアが高級車オーナーには必要なのかもしれませんねぇ（笑）。

＜Our Views＞
There was an interesting and unusual warning on Ford GT Forum regaring Bentley Flying Spur… well, any cas with “soft close door” really.
This is a warning to all owners of the Bentley Continental. The Bentley Continental features a “Soft Close” Power Latching Door System that engages the door just before it closes and uses powerful electric motors to pull the door shut and latch it automatically. This system does not appear to have a safety built into it to stop the power latching motor system from closing the door when a hand or finger is in the way. My wife’s Bentley crushed her thumb flatter than a pancake when the soft close power latching door system closed the door on it. To make matters worse, the door jammed and she was unable to open the door while her thumb was crushed in the door for several minutes. The pain was so unbearable that she eventually passed out. Luckily a man came to her rescue and opened the door. The man that opened the door stated that it took both his hands and all his strength to open the door. My wife was taken to the hospital in an ambulance and held for observation as she is 62 years old and her blood pressure was very high and she was in a state of shock not to mention the severe damage to her thumb. The doctors had to drill holes in her thumb to release the pressure and place a splint on it because it was shattered. My wife was in pain for many months after the accident, and her thumb is permanently deformed. However we feel lucky that she didn’t have a heart attack and die that day due to the extreme physical stress of the situation. Please be careful with your hands and fingers around the doors on the Bentley Continental when they shut, and be especially careful around small children so that they don’t get their hands crushed in the doors.
And yes, it has become a law suit in the USA… There will, perhaps, be more claims as many luxury sedans have this feature…like that of an Audi A8 which, perhaps, shares the same component…
Japlopnik decided to test this claim…