Car dealership owner barred from business after cars sold with blown airbags

WICHITA, Kan. (KWCH/Gray News) – A car dealership in Kansas can no longer sell vehicles in the state.

According to the Sedgwick County District Attorney’s Office, a consumer complaint has led to a nearly $400,000 judgment against the owner of the dealership.

Additionally, officials said the Carnation dealership owner, Kayode Ajibolade, violated the Kansas Consumer Protection Act by failing to disclose that a car had blown airbags before selling it.

“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,” the DA’s office said. “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.”

This isn’t the first complaint against Carnation that went to court.

In 2019, Carnation LLC entered into a prior consent judgment with the DA’s Consumer Protection Division in which the business admitted to being deceptive by failing to disclose a blown airbag.

In the current case, the Sedgwick County DA’s Office said the court previously found that in April, Carnation’s sales of 13 cars “was undisclosed and concealed blown airbags constituted willful violations of the 2019 consent judgment and the KCPA.”

In the latest default judgment entered against Ajibolade on Nov. 22, the dealership owner was found to be personally liable with Carnation LLC “for the remaining balance of the judgment, the DA’s office said.

The judgment accompanied the court’s decision to revoke Ajibolade’s license to do business in Kansas.

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