Of course he does.
How does any manufacturer prevent a customer from misusing their product?
And every car manufacturer should be liable if someone uses their car to harm others.
They can’t, and everyone knows that the law suits will not be won. But they have to be defended against. The strategy was to flood the manufactures with so many lawsuits as to bankrupt them.
That was the reason for the law in the first place. Many of the lawsuits were funded with tax money.