Father pays for Super Bowl ad about daughter's death in effort to reach Donald Trump

Steve Eimers' daughter died in a car crash after hitting a highway guardrail

A Tennessee father bought a Super Bowl advertisement slot in West Palm Beach, Florida, to send a message to US President Donald Trump about his daughter's death in a car accident.

Steve Eimers paid $1,000 to have 30-second pre-game message about highway guardrails played in the television market of the Mar-a-Lago resort, where Mr Trump was watching the game.

He told CBS News: "It was worth taking that shot to see if maybe the President will see this," adding that the President mentioned highway guardrail safety during a discussion about his $1.5 trillion infrastructure plan.

Mr Eimers' daughter Hannah died when she hit an X-LITE guardrail in Tennessee in 2016 and police said it punctured the driver's side door instead of collapsing, as per the device's intended design.

The guardrail pushed Ms Eimers into the back seat of her car, hitting her in the chest and head.

There are approximately 14,000 of the X-LITE highway guardrails according to several pending lawsuits, often used on federally-maintained roads. At least 13 people are believed to have possibly died as a result of hitting the X-LITEs.

"It's one thing to lose your child to an innocent accident but we lost our daughter to a defective product. And to see the Federal Highway Administration be this dismissive it is – it's insulting," Mr Eimers said.

The Federal Highway Administration said it implemented stricter safety controls earlier this year, but have not ordered to have the guardrails taken out of commission.

Tennessee has removed the X-LITE rails since Ms Eimers' death and ten more states are doing the same.

Mr Eimers' home state claimed "installation deficiencies" for the reason for removal.

Lindsay Transportation Solutions said the "X-LITE has successfully passed crash and safety tests in accordance with federal standards," in a statement to CBS News.

The company also said no equipment can protect drivers and passengers in every scenario.

In larger markets or to have a nationwide advertisement, the cost was up to $5m for 30 seconds.