Articles Posted in SUV Rollovers

A 39-year-old woman died in a Ford Explorer rollover accident Friday on the Interstate 5 in the Willows area of Northern California, according to a news article in the Oroville Mercury Register. The woman, identified as Rhonda Johnson, was driving back home with her two sons – ages 4 and 10 – when she lost control of her Ford Explorer. The sport utility vehicle rolled over and landed upside down in the center divider, the article stated. Johnson was pronounced dead at the scene and her two boys were taken to a local hospital. One of the children was air-lifted while the other was taken by ambulance, the newspaper reported.

Another Ford Explorer tragedy – this time, it snatches a mother away from her two young sons. And what’s even sadder and more depressing is this is not going to be the last time someone dies from such a rollover crash, especially by driving a poorly-designed vehicle. Every year, 10,000 people in the United States die in these rollover collisions. At least 16,000 people suffer catastrophic injuries as a result of such crashes. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) estimates there are at least 40,000 rollovers in United States highways each year.
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A 21-year-old man died in the early morning of July 1st, 2007 after the sport utility vehicle in which he was a passenger, flipped over on the freeway, according to an article in The Orange County Register.

Cesar Sanchez was reportedly ejected from the Ford Excursion after the SUV rolled over at about 1:22 a.m. as the vehicle was traveling eastbound on the 91 Freeway to the Costa Mesa (55) Freeway transition.

The driver of the Excursion, whose name was not released, lost control of the SUV for an unknown reason, California Highway Patrol officials told the newspaper. After the driver lost control and turned sharply off the shoulder, the Excursion flipped three times throwing Sanchez out of the vehicle. He was taken to Western Medical Center in Santa Ana where he was
pronounced dead shortly thereafter. No information was released about the driver’s identity or his condition. Also, it is not known whether Sanchez was wearing his seatbelt when the SUV rolled over.
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A ripped tire tread caused a rollover and fiery collision on Route 152 in Fresno Sunday evening, killing two children and injuring two adults, according to a news article in the Madera Tribune. California Highway Patrol officials said that a 2000 Chevrolet Blazer was traveling west on the highway when the tread on the vehicle’s right rear tire separated from the tire and struck the inside of the wheel well, the article stated.

Once the tire blew, the driver, Micaela Cornelio lost control of the vehicle, causing it to roll over and skid on its roof through the median and into oncoming traffic on the eastbound side of the highway. A Cadillac then rammed into the overturned Blazer, the newspaper reported.

Jonathan Cornelio, 10 and 14-year-old Saira Perez, both passengers in the Blazer, were pronounced dead at the local hospital shortly after the crash. Micaela Cornelio, 33, and another 12-year-old boy who wasn’t identified, both suffered severe injuries and were air-lifted to local hospitals. Another 14-year-old, who was a passenger in the Cadillac, also suffered significant injuries and was taken to the hospital, the article said.

CHP Officer Thomas Isler told the reporter that the driver of the Blazer “may have overcorrected after the tire blew,” causing the vehicle to roll over. He said that after the tread separated causing the tire to blow, the driver of the Blazer swerved and completely lost control. According to another man who was changing his tire on the eastbound shoulder of the highway, the Blazer flipped over multiple times before it skidded into oncoming traffic. Both the Blazer and the Cadillac came to a stop within 100 feet of his parked car, according to the shaken motorist.

This is his quote from the article describing the horrific sight of the crash:

“I heard their tire go. Then it sounded like a bomb went off. When I looked up, it was coming right at me upside down. I jumped for the ditch on the other side of my car.”
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There is a lawsuit that’s going through the Riverside county court system, which could change the way auto makers look at safety options in their vehicles – and that wouldn’t necessarily be a bad thing for consumers.

Here’s why. According to an article in the Los Angeles Times, this lawsuit, filed by family members of two people killed in a 2002 Chevy Suburban rollover, contends that General Motors Corp. was negligent in not providing an electronic stability control system in its mainstream SUV model. The auto maker offered those options only in its luxury vehicle models such as Cadillac Escalade, Chevrolet Corvette and the Cadillac Seville.

Here’s the question the plaintiffs pose to the jury – should safety be a luxury option? Or should it be mandated for all vehicles? Well, plaintiff attorneys say that once a company has developed a safety device or technology, they have the obligation to consumers to offer it on all their vehicles – whether they are economy or luxury models.
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The family of a Tongan Prince killed on Highway 101 in Menlo Park last year has filed a lawsuit against Ford Motor Company. The family is alleging that the Explorer sport utility vehicle they were riding in was unsafe and that the auto maker marketed it as a safe vehicle in spite of knowing its dangers.

According to an article in the San Francisco Chronicle reported that the Explorer was sideswiped during a street racing incident on the highway on July 5. Edith Delgado, a Redwood City teenager, is facing three counts of vehicular manslaughter in the deaths of Tongan Prince Tu’ipelehake, 55, his wife, Princess Kaimana Aleamotu’a Tuku’aho, 46, and their driver, 36-year-old Vinisia Hefa of Palo Alto, the article said.

The 1998 Explorer flipped several times. Delgado and her passenger were not injured in the crash. The lawsuit accuses Ford of deceptive marketing saying that the auto maker touts the Explorer as a safe vehicle while knowing very well that it was prone to rollovers and has a roof that crushes on impact. The plaintiffs’ attorney states that had the prince and his wife been a passenger in a Honda, Toyota or even a Ford Mustang, they would have probably survived the crash.
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A six-person jury in Palm Beach, Florida, deliberated for nearly 11 hours over three days, before finding that Ford Motor Co. should pay $10.4 million after the woman became paralyzed as a result of a defective seat in her Ford Explorer, according to an article in the Palm Beach Post.

Donna Grimes said the decision was a victory for her husband. He has long believed that the flaws in the design of her Ford Explorer seat caused her neck to snap during her 2001 crash, which left her a quadriplegic; putting an end to the couple’s once-active lifestyle. The couple says this money will go toward paying Donna’s mounting medical bills.

Grimes’ accident occurred about six years ago when the driver of a Toyota Solara rear-ended her Explorer at 60 mph. The driver of the Toyota walked away from the crash, but Grimes’ seat collapsed jettisoning her into the back seat. Their lawsuit stated that the Explorer seats fail in rear-end collisions causing horrible injuries and even deaths because they are not strong enough to absorb the impact of the crash.
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In a move yet again to restrain large verdicts that punish companies, the U.S. Supreme Court on Monday set aside a San Diego jury’s $55 Million award against Ford Motor Co. for a rollover accident involving its popular Explorer sport utility vehicle, according to an article in the Los Angeles Times.

The justices ordered a California appeals court to reconsider punitive damages awarded in the case of a 51-year-old mother of two who was paralyzed after her Explorer rolled over in 2002. This ruling will not affect the $27.6 million awarded to her in compensatory damages, which basically compensate victims for wrongful injuries. Punitive damages, on the other hand, are meant as a punishment to penalize the offenders, in this case, the auto maker. The high court, since the 1990s, has tried to rein in on unrestrained punitive verdicts because they believe such verdicts may violate the constitution, the Times article said.

After losing in the California courts, Ford’s lawyers appealed to the Supreme Court arguing that the jury in San Diego might have jacked up the punitive damages as a knee-jerk reaction to hearing that hundreds of people had been injured or killed in rollover accidents involving Ford Broncos or Explorers. The Supreme Court apparently bought that argument and decided to send the Ford case back to the California court for further consideration. A lawyer for the accident victim told the Times that the verdict was based on strong evidence that Ford “had sacrificed safety for profit.”

The injuries suffered by Benetta Buell-Wilson seem to be “classic Ford Explorer rollover.” She was driving at a normal speed on the 8 East Freeway in San Diego when she swerved to avoid a metal object on the roadway. Her 1997 Explorer reportedly fishtailed and rolled over four times crushing the roof and causing Buell-Wilson severe spinal injury and paralysis. Before her trial in San Diego, Ford had won 13 times in trials where plaintiffs had made similar allegations, the Times article said. But in June 2004, the jury in Buell-Wilson’s case socked Ford with a $368.6-million verdict. About a third was to compensate her and her husband for their injuries, including emotional suffering. The rest — $246 million — was intended to punish Ford for reprehensible conduct.

The verdict has since been reduced twice, first by the trial judge and later by a state appeals court in San Diego. The compensatory damages for Buell-Wilson and her family were reduced to $27.6 million and the punitive damages to $55 million last year. Now, the state appeals court in San Diego must decide whether to further reduce the punitive amount.
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