The family of a truck driver who died as the result of a damaged transmission has been awarded over $3 million dollars as the result of a wrongful death suit brought against the deceased trucker’s employer.
The body of the trucker, Amarjit Khunkhun, was found in the charred remains of his truck on the side of I-40 West in New Mexico. The fire was caused by leaking transmission fluid which built up underneath the truck. The gasses from the fluid reached the exhaust which was hot enough to ignite them, starting a fire.
According to the suit brought against Khunkhun’s employer, GMG Trucking, the company knew about the faulty transmission and failed to fix the problem. This was proven in court because the last person to drive the truck before Khunkhun was his boss who actually told him about the issue and had recently topped up on transmission fluid.
Though the fire burned his truck and his body, Khunkhun was actually killed by inhaling carbon monoxide that filled the cab as a result of the fire and not as a result of the fire itself. His body was found in the sleeper of the vehicle. If he had had a working carbon monoxide detector in his vehicle, Khunkun might still be alive today.
Drivers: Carbon monoxide is odorless, tasteless, and can easily kill you in your sleep. Go get a carbon monoxide detector. They usually cost less than $20 and they can save your life.
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Source: overdrive, thetrucker
I can not even put into words, how sad I am for this family’s loss. RIP Amarjit Khunkhun, hope your family gets the money.
So the driver knew it leaked why did he drive it. That company would have fixed the leak if I were the driver .
Intimidation, the company says drive it or else get fired,time off or whatever.My company says drive it till it breaks,then we will go get you with another truck.
Yep! Drive it till it breaks. That’s what my company always says. If you don’t drive it, we will find someone who will or we will cut your hours or make you sit for a week until we get around to it. I have rent to pay so I drive.
I’m with Lance, I call total BS. If that was truly the case of how the fire started there would be trucks catching on fire everyday, I’m pretty sure his isn’t the only truck on the highway with a leaking transmission. A matter of fact I know it won’t catch on fire, cause I have grease caked on my exhaust do to the fact my truck has a weed burner exhaust and when they lube the U joints it just flings right on the exhaust.
They lube your U-joints with transmission fluid? That’s…interesting…
No doubt if he had refused to drive it. He would have been fired. Of course now he is dead so ask yourself which is worse?
If he was terminated for not driving because of a safety issue, he could have sued and won a wrongful termination suit.
And in the mean time, you sit at home while your bills pile up and you are black balled by the company as a trouble maker. Its a no-win for the driver either way.
how many trailers can a dead truck driver deliver?
The oil may have heated up enough to smoke.Get engine oil on a hot engine and watch it smoke. there for causing that smoke and smell to get into the cab and the sleeper.they said he died from carbon monoxide poisoning but the only way for that to be is if there was an exhaust leak somewhere. there had to be a way for this carbon mo to get into the vehicle.I have never seen a truck burn becuase of oil of any kind on the hot exposed area of the engine or exhaust. I have seen trucks burn from fuel leaks or fuel being ignited after a crash but thats it.
Automatic trans maybe?
Not on a 2000 model and not with a company that wouldn’t fix a leak.
Drivers are not forced to drive anything. If the vehicle is not safe to operate it is ALWAYS up to the driver to refuse to operate the vehicle. If they get terminated because of that choice, at least they are ALIVE to bring a lawsuit against the company for wrongful termination.
Spoken by someone who has money in the bank.
Cary…must agree with you. I walked away from a company I liked working for…after repeated reports to the owner that the tractor had an exhaust leak…fourth of july last year….came back to work and the mechanic, who had more than an ounce of back bone…told me straight out that”it’s broke” and that the regen/hooked to his laptop, was taking more than two hours…instead of the normal 15 minutes…and that there was a serious exhaust leak into the cab through the cowl/ac vents …and that the owner was going to send me out and fix it the next week….
I dropped the keys on the owner…and resigned on the spot.
Carry a Carbon Monoxide detector…they are now inexpensive and can save a driver’s life.
This driver did not have to die!
I once worked for a water tower co out of Ky. I slept in my truck much of the time on the jobsite usually in a field. I worried about grass fires and getting burned so I used the co credit card to buy a carbon mon detector. I couldn’t believe all the flack I caught over $20. It ended up with a hot argument and he learned where he could go.
Keep in mind if you let them dump on you it’s guaranteed they will.
With all the experts on this site, “O” that would be the guy that testified in court. We do not know what the 50W was contaminated with, first off there is the tar used to seal the bottom of the cab, then for it to build up it would need something, sawdust, what ever, that could lower the ignition point a long way.
I have seen many a good driver fired if he complained about anything, even if it was a safety issue, I use to advise the drivers to stop at the scale and tell the CVSE inspector in Canada or the State trouper.
I worked on engines for nearly 50 years and have seen drivers driving junk fire traps and it use to be no one cared, fuel leaks, oil leaks, stink, and fumes in the cab. The heater draws air from in front of the window or the hood vent, and if the heater mount leaks under the hood.
Just a thought!
i dont care what company it is. drivers if it is unsafe, dont drive it. being told youll be fired or have rent to pay is no excuse. if you die or worse, kill someone else because of an issue you know about then its all on you as the driver. i hope they dont get a dime. not because im against drivers but because it was willful negligence on the drivers part for getting behind the wheel. i know ill get caustic remarks for this but it is the truth. such a problem that they didnt want to fix is an easy solution. drive to a scale and ask them to inspect the truck and they will make the company fix it.
No they won’t. They’ll write a warning or at worst a ticket and the owner will ignore it. One of the douchebags I drove for had oil leaks so bad he got wrote up for it at every scale since 2010. He’s still running the same truck, with the same leaks, and he’s done nothing to fix it.
Oil leaks are not a DOT issue that I am aware of.. Air leaks are what was giving me trouble with DOT. Most of those trucks with serious oil leaks do not go across scales to be inspected anyway. I also suspect the wabasco heater or an electric short but I am not an expert on other peeps trucks that burn up! All this good advice for drivers refusing to drive a truck are just not viable for most drivers who need their jobs! I hear this kind of stuff a lot and most of it is coming from people who have drivers running trucks for them. Safety is expensive for everyone if done properly or not!!
As a company driver, if something is wrong with my truck and they refuse to fix it, I refuse to drive it. Plain and simple
I drove for a guy who would say the previous driver did not complain about that which was why I left took 1 year to get back pay lot of hassle other drivers quit after they came to me to find out how I got my money from employer now days it is somewhat easier in canada.
Once I´d to put 1 gallon of oil every morning that ended-up in 2 gallons, after quite a while I stopped putting oil for a couple of days and misteriously the engine stopped working, the owner just fixed the engine meanwhile I was driving another truck since a fellow quit. No more putting oil and paddles every morning anymore!