Vehicle Rollovers - An Overview
All car accidents have a risk of personal injury, but if you or a loved on were involved in a vehicle rollover, chances are it was a serious accident. Statistics show that whenever a rollover happens, the occupants are more likely to suffer traumatic injuries or death. For example, 22 percent of car accident deaths and 62 percent of Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV) deaths occur during vehicle rollover.
The greatest risk of rollover occurs in SUVs. Unlike cars, which tend to slide sideways when they go out of control, SUVs are more likely to flip over because they have a higher center of gravity, Based on studies conducted by the National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA), 79 percent of fatalities in a single-SUV crash involve a rollover compared to only 45 percent for passenger vehicles. The estimated risk of rollover in an SUV is 30 percent compared to only 16 percent risk of rollover in a passenger vehicle. Despite these statistics, one in every four new vehicles sold in America today is a Sport Utility Vehicle (SUV).
Read More
Elements of a Motor Vehicle Defect Claim
Unlike an ordinary personal injury claim for negligence, in order to establish a vehicle manufacturer or seller's liability for a vehicle defect, you do not need to show that they were careless, and that their carelessness led to your accident or injury. Instead, liability in motor vehicle defect cases is controlled by the doctrine of strict liability.
Read More
Rollovers: Roof Crush & Seat Belt Failure
Generally, in rollover litigation, plaintiffs seek to hold manufacturers liable on the basis of a design defect in the vehicle where they were injured. In the usual rollover case the claim is that the design defect caused the accident and/or enhanced the injuries suffered in the accident. Any claim related to enhanced injuries refers to a theory of recovery in which the manufacturer is held liable if the product enhances an injury beyond what the injuries would have been in a similar accident. It is called the crashworthiness doctrine. In essence, this means that even if it can not be proven that the manufacturer is responsible for causing the accident itself, it may be proven that the manufacturer may be liable for all or a portion of the person's injuries, or death because the design of the vehicle does not meet reasonable safety standards.
The statistics related to enhanced injuries in rollover accidents are astonishing. New fatality statistics show more than 10,694 people died in 2002 in rollovers. And sport utility vehicles, by far, had the highest rate, with 62 percent of all SUV deaths occurring in rollovers. That's nearly three times the rate for cars, which is 22 percent.
Read More
The Concept of "Crashworthyness"
The most important concept in vehicle defect liability cases is "crashworthiness". Crashworthiness is the ability of a vehicle to prevent injuries to the occupants in the event of a collision. During a collision, a vehicle's occupants are subject to a number of forces that can result in injury, including rapid deceleration and rapid acceleration, depending on the direction of impact in the collision. Crashworthiness deals primarily with the 'second collision' that results from these forces, in which the driver and passengers collide against the interior of the vehicle. An effective crashworthy vehicle design will distribute these injurious forces over as great a period of time and distance as possible, including by directing them to parts of the body that are more capable of withstanding them.
Read More
Manufacturer Defenses In Rollover Litigation
Manufacturers of Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs) vigorously defend against allegations of design defect in SUV rollover litigation. The defendants' primary strategy in these cases is to blame the driver for losing control of the vehicle. Other defenses focus on design issues, vehicle testing, and industry norms. All of these defenses are designed to counter the plaintiff's theory of the case: that the manufacturer could have designed the vehicle to prevent rollovers in foreseeable circumstances.
Read More
