Driving without a license’s ＂Old Man Le＂ injured others, should the seller also bear the responsibility？

　　There is such a kind of car that shuttles through the streets. People call it "Old Man Le". It looks like a car and is actually a four-wheel low-speed electric car. However, "Old Man Le" lacks basic safety configuration, poor stability, poor braking, and dangerous driving on the road, which is easy to cause traffic accidents.

　　Today (February 10th), the reporter learned that recently, Gaoyou Court concluded a product liability dispute case, in which the plaintiff injured a motorcycle rider while driving an electric four-wheeled vehicle, and had to pay nearly 200,000 yuan after mediation. The owner who can sell "Lao Toule" didn’t tell the truth, and the plaintiff mistakenly thought that "Lao Toule" was a non-motor vehicle and didn’t get a driver’s license, license or insure the vehicle. Later, the plaintiff sued the vehicle seller for compensation.

　　Uncle Wang (pseudonym), a citizen of Gaoyou, likes to go out for a stroll. Considering weather factors such as wind and rain, he bought an electric four-wheeled vehicle in 2021. With this car, Uncle Wang’s life is more colorful. He drives out from time to time, not to mention how happy he is. However, an accident made him deeply regret his original decision to buy a car. What’s going on here?

　　In March 2022, Uncle Wang was driving on a main road in a local town, with a fork in the road ahead, and suddenly a motorcycle came across. Uncle Wang’s left turn failed to avoid the straight motorcycle in time, causing the two cars to collide and the motorcycle rider fell to the ground and was injured. After the traffic accident, the traffic police arrived at the scene to deal with the accident, and the injured motorcycle rider Mr. Chen (pseudonym) was taken to the hospital for treatment. Mr. Chen was seriously injured and was discharged after a period of treatment. After identification, the degree of injury belongs to the second degree of serious injury. The results of the accident investigation were released, and Uncle Wang was completely dumbfounded after getting the appraisal results. After identification, the vehicle that Uncle Wang was driving was a motor vehicle, and the traffic police department issued the "Certificate of Road Traffic Accident", which determined that Uncle Wang did not obtain a motor vehicle driver’s license, drove an unregistered electric four-wheeled vehicle on the road, and did not let the straight vehicle go first when turning left at the intersection, which was the main cause of the accident, and the other party was responsible for the accident. After mediation, Uncle Wang needs to compensate the other party for 195,000 yuan. I have to bear a large amount of compensation at one time, and Uncle Wang is a little unable to sit still. "When I bought this car, the boss didn’t tell me to get a motor vehicle driver’s license, and I didn’t know that the vehicle had to be registered. It can’t be all on me." As a consumer, Uncle Wang said, "If I had known that this car belonged to a motor vehicle and the product had quality defects, I would not have paid for it."

　　The vehicle was not licensed, and Uncle Wang was still openly in driving without a license. According to him, it is mainly because I don’t know the nature of the car as an electric car. Afterwards, Uncle Wang thought that the seller of the electric four-wheeler did not explain to him that the car was an electric vehicle, which made him mistakenly think that he was driving a non-motor vehicle. "The business practices have made me miserable, and they should also bear the liability for compensation for the accident." Uncle Wang negotiated this matter with the vehicle sales department, but there was no progress. Finally, Uncle Wang took the sales department and operator Mr. Li (a pseudonym) to court. Recently, Gaoyou court heard the case. The judge pointed out that the Civil Code of People’s Republic of China (PRC) stipulates: "If a product is defective and causes damage to others, the infringed may claim compensation from the producer of the product or the seller of the product.".

　　The Product Quality Law of People’s Republic of China (PRC) stipulates: "The defects mentioned in this law refer to the unreasonable dangers of products that endanger the personal and property safety of others; If the product has national standards and industry standards to protect human health and personal and property safety, it means that it does not meet the standards. " After trial, the court held that the defendant’s sales department sold the electric car to the plaintiff, and in the process of sales, the attributes of the vehicle were vaguely defined, misleading consumers to buy and use the electric car as a non-motor vehicle. However, the electric four-wheeled vehicle involved in the case was identified as a motor vehicle. The defendant’s sales department sold the products identified as motor vehicles, failed to warn consumers of the products, and had defects in instructions, explanations and warnings, which made the electric four-wheeled vehicle involved in the accident unreasonable and should be identified as defective products. Based on the defects of the product, one of the reasons for the accident was that the electric four-wheeled vehicle involved was not registered, the plaintiff drove on the road without obtaining a motor vehicle driver’s license, and did not follow the motor vehicle regulations.

　　That is to say, the defective electric four-wheeled vehicle involved in the case has a causal relationship with the occurrence and damage results of this traffic accident, and the defendant’s sales department has a certain fault in failing to fulfill its warning obligations. The court also held that the plaintiff did not yield in accordance with the regulations in this accident, and his fault participation and cause in the traffic accident were far greater than the behavior of driving an unlicensed motor vehicle.

　　At the same time, the court considered that the electric four-wheeled vehicle involved in the case was different from the general electric two-wheeled bicycle by naked eyes, and the plaintiff, as the driver, should pay the utmost attention to the vehicle attributes when purchasing the vehicle. The plaintiff failed to carefully review the duty of care, and also made negligence. The court finally ruled that the defendant’s sales department was liable for 15% of the compensation and should compensate the plaintiff for 29,250 yuan.

　　("Zero Distance" reporter/Mika editor/Wang Ze)