The family of a Montgomery man killed in a 2022 auto crash has received a $2.7 million settlement over defective airbags they say led to his death.

Beasley Allen and The Vance Law Firm represented the family of Tocarious Johnson, who died June 6, 2022 in a Montgomery crash. The family sued Chrysler, the auto dealer and a maintenance firm.

Montgomery police and fire medics were dispatched at 9:20 p.m. that day to a report of a single-vehicle crash in the 4100 block of Piedmont Drive. They arrived to find Johnson unresponsive inside his vehicle. He was pronounced dead on the scene. It was later determined his vehicle left the roadway and crashed into multiple mailboxes.

Initially, authorities thought he died of a gunshot wound. However, an autopsy showed he was killed by exploding shrapnel from a defective Takata airbag inflator in his 2010 Dodge Charger.

The attorneys for Johnson’s family argued that evidence showed the driver’s side airbag inflator ruptured violently during the accident, much like a hand grenade. That propelled shrapnel from the metal inflator towards Johnson.

The Takata airbag safety recall, the largest and most complex in the nation’s history, affects 19 auto manufacturers and more than 200 models across several years of production. Johnson’s vehicle, attorneys said, was already subject to two National Highway Traffic Safety Administration recalls over the airbags.

Attorney Chris Glover said Johnson “didn’t have to die.”

“The problems started with a defective product that should have been made safer,” Glover said. “The problems grew as the defendants passed up each opportunity to do the right thing and inform the consumer of the dangers described in the recall. Instead, A young man was robbed of his life, and he leaves behind grieving family and friends.”

Beasley Allen’s Chris Glover and Alyssa Baskam, with Stewart Vance and Kyle Weidman of The Vance Law Firm, represented Johnson’s family.