Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 26, 1993 TAG: 9305260315
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: MICHAEL STOWE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: PULASKI LENGTH: Medium
He also thinks he's lucky to be alive to talk about it.
Egyed and his wife, Maggie, were returning from a visit to their daughter in Ohio last month when a vehicle crossed the median and slammed into the side of their 1984 Chevrolet Scotsdale pickup.
The impact ruptured the truck's gas tank and the vehicle exploded in flames.
The Pulaski County couple was pulled from the burning vehicle by a passing motorist, but not before Gabor broke his right leg and suffered third-degree burns over most of his left arm and the left side of his face.
Maggie Egyed escaped the crash with only minor bruises.
Critics of GM trucks say the gas tanks are prone to explode in side crashes, but GM's lawyers contend that the pickups have no safety defects and actually exceed federal safety standards for trucks.
"The more I think about this accident, the madder I get," Egyed, 65, said during an interview at his home Tuesday. "It's kind of a disgusting situation because I know dang well there have been a lot of accidents like mine. This is a situation that should have been corrected a long time ago."
General Motors Corp. rejected a government request that it voluntarily recall up to 4.7 million of its 1973-87 full-size pickups. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration can launch an investigation and order a recall if it rules there is a defect.
If the automaker again refuses, the issue probably will be decided in court.
After his accident on April 9, Egyed spent 21 days in an Akron, Ohio, hospital where he was operated on three times. Doctors took skin grafts from his chest and left hip and used them to replace some of Egyed's burned flesh.
Doctors say his burns will heal better and faster if he wears a knit covering on his arm and face, but Egyed rarely does.
"It feels like you've got a thousand ants eating on you all the time," he said.
Egyed isn't bashful about whipping out X-rays that show where surgeons inserted two steel plates and 11 bolts into his broken leg. Doctors have said he will regain 70 percent of the use of his leg.
Egyed spent most of his hospital stay on his back, giving him nothing to do but think about the accident.
He's convinced he would have walked away with just a broken leg if the truck's gas tank hadn't been mounted on the side of the vehicle and caught fire.
Egyed has hired an Ohio lawyer and is considering a suit against GM, but he's not optimistic about winning.
"How can a little guy like me fight a big company like that?" he said.
Earlier this year, a state court in Georgia awarded $105.2 million to the parents of a teen-ager killed after his GM truck exploded. GM has appealed to the Georgia Supreme Court.
Egyed returned home in early May, but went to the Winston-Salem, N.C., burn center last week for surgery to repair his bottom left eyelid, which was burned.
Despite the immense pain and discomfort he's suffered in the past six weeks, Egyed manages to remain upbeat.
"Life goes on," he said.
He uses a walker to maneuver around the house and, despite the cast on his leg, he drives a four-wheel, all-terrain vehicle around his big yard.
"I can't keep track of him," his wife said. "He won't sit still."
Egyed is on leave from his job as a driver at the Volvo-GM Heavy Truck Corp. in Dublin, but said he plans to retire instead of returning to work. General Motors owns 13 percent of Volvo-GM, but the companies operate independently of each other.
The crash has given the Egyeds exposure with national media, including The Wall Street Journal and the New York Post.
"We've always tried to keep a low profile and I'm not crazy about the publicity, but If I can help correct this problem and save one child then it's worth my time," he said.
He did, however, turn down an offer to appear on Montel Williams' nationally syndicated talk show.
"I told them I had enough trouble getting out to the mailbox, much less get to New York to be on TV."
Memo: ***CORRECTION***