A Wichita car dealership has been closed down and ordered to pay nearly $400,000 after selling more than a dozen cars with blown airbags, District Attorney Marc Bennett’s office said.
According to a news release, a $394,197 default judgment was entered against Kayode Ajibolade and his dealership, Carnation LLC, for engaging in deceptive acts and willfully violating a previous consent judgment under the Kansas Consumer Protection Act. The matter was investigated by the District Attorney’s Consumer Protection Division after receiving a consumer complaint against Ajibolade and Carnation, located at 1301 E. Lincoln.
The Consumer Protection Division alleged that Ajibolade, also known as Olukayode I. Ajibolade, violated the KCPA by failing to disclose that a car had blown airbags before selling it to the consumer. After purchasing the car, the consumer later found an airbag simulator device which disabled the airbag light on the dash, concealing the fact that the airbag had been deployed. Further investigation by the Consumer Protection Division found 12 more cars sold by Ajibolade and Carnation in the first quarter of 2023 with blown airbags. Ajibolade and Carnation failed to disclose the blown airbags when selling the cars to consumers from the car lot.
In 2019, Carnation LLC entered into a prior consent judgment with the Consumer Protection Division in which it admitted to a deceptive act for failing to disclose a blown airbag.
In the current case, a court found in April that Carnation’s sales of each of the 13 cars with undisclosed and concealed blown airbags constituted willful violations of the 2019 consent judgment and the KCPA. The court ordered Carnation to pay $2,000 per car in restitution to each of the 12 consumers. The restitution was later paid by the dealership’s bonding company. Carnation was also ordered to pay $390,000 in civil penalties, along with court costs and investigation fees..
The latest default judgment was entered against Ajibolade by Judge William Woolley on Nov. 22. Ajibolade was found to be personally liable, “jointly and severally” with Carnation, for the remaining balance of the judgment, $394,197. In addition, the courtrevoked Ajibolade’s license to do business and permanently prohibited him from selling cars in the State of Kansas.
The District Attorney reminds car buyers to exercise care when shopping for a used vehicle. Because devices can be used to conceal that a car is missing functioning airbags, even if inspected by a mechanic, it is important to also examine a Carfax or similar history of the vehicle before purchase to identify accidents that may have resulted in the deployment of airbags. In addition,it is recommended that the consumer perform a general online search of the VIN number of a prospective car purchase, which can often reveal photos of prior damage to the car.
The case was investigated by Kristen Zluticky of the District Attorney’s Office.
