A jury returned a verdict for Deere in the principal action after receiving instructions which allowed such a verdict on the products liability count if the deceased had assumed the risk of working on or near the Deere equipment. On appeal, the judgment in favor of Deere was affirmed ( 121 Ill. App.3d 724), and Deere's appeal in the third-party action was dismissed as moot. Auton's argument in the appellate court was that our decision in Coney v. J.L.G. Industries, Inc. (1983), 97 Ill.2d 104, which applied comparative fault to products liability claims, required that the appellate court reverse the circuit court and order a new trial. The appellate court affirmed the judgment for the defendants because it concluded that Coney applied only prospectively and because Auton's trial was completed prior to our decision in Coney.
We admit that instances of this nature are few. Two illustrative examples are found in our cases of Kirby v. General Motors Corp. (1973), 10 Ill. App.3d 92, 293 N.E.2d 345, and Auton v. Logan Landfill, Inc. (1983), 121 Ill. App.3d 724, 460 N.E.2d 3, aff'd (1985), 105 Ill.2d 537, 475 N.E.2d 817. In Kirby the plaintiff was a truck driver who had numerous occasions to repair a faulty steering box in a truck which he had driven over 150,000 miles in an 18-month period.