Well, this is one of the more infuriating items I’ve come across in a while. Robert Gratzinger, an engineer who
worked as an expert witness for several car companies, was found to have deliberately altered evidence in a court case
involving Honda and a girl who was paralyzed in a rollover accident. The automaker alleged that it was lack of seatbelt
use by the plaintiff that caused injuries, not an insufficiently strong roof. A California court found that Gratzinger
removed “witness marks” (localized areas of marked or deformed material) from the seatbelt latch to make it appear as
if the belt was not in use. The case was settled out of court, so it’s not clear what role this evidence played in the
case. Thanks for making us engineers look like sleezeballs, Mr. Gratzinger. Now, the big question – who ordered
Gratzinger to tamper with the evidence?
"Expert" witness accused of altering crash evidence
Well, this is one of the more infuriating items I’ve come across in a while. Robert Gratzinger, an engineer who worked as an expert witness for several car companies, was found to have deliberately altered evidence in a court case involving Honda and a girl who was paralyzed in a rollover accident. The automaker alleged that it was lack of seatbelt use by the plaintiff that caused injuries, not an insufficiently strong roof. A California court found that Gratzinger removed “witness marks” (localized areas of marked or deformed material) from the seatbelt latch to make it appear as if the belt was not in use. The case was settled out of court, so it’s not clear what role this evidence played in the case. Thanks for making us engineers look like sleezeballs, Mr. Gratzinger. Now, the big question – who ordered Gratzinger to tamper with the evidence?