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Car Accident Cases – SUV Rollovers
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Car fire – Van fire – Fatal Car Wrecks
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Airbag Deployment
Federal standards require that new cars driven in Philadelphia and Pennsylvania be equipped with airbags, and that’s a good thing. Airbags can help prevent injury. However, proper airbag deployment is essential. Airbags feature sensors that make them deploy depending on the speed and angle of the collision. Defective airbags may deploy at below-normal speeds or fail to deploy at the proper speed or angle. This improper airbag deployment can actually cause worse injuries than if the airbag had not deployed at all. Any number of flaws can cause defective airbags to fail. If you have a question about an air bag deployment, please contact our crashworthiness Philadelphia auto accident attorneys.
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Airbag failure to deploy, defective airbags, or improper airbag deployment can cause serious eye injuries and permanent damage.
In some cases partial (or even total) blindness has resulted. Many of these injuries occur due to direct contact with the deploying airbag (while it is still in a ball) or from impact with particles at a high speed that are released during (projected by the) airbag deployment. In response to this, it is necessary that research be conducted using crash dummies with “eye ball models” in order determine how these injuries are occurring and what can be done to prevent injury by proper airbag deployment angles and design of the airbag shape.
In addition, the age and size of the vehicle occupants can have a significant impact on injury profiles, including deaths caused by airbags. For example, a recent study showed that teenage occupants should stay out of the front seat of cars equipped with airbags, unless they are large enough to actually be driving behind the wheel of the car. Furthermore, car seats should NEVER be positioned facing an airbag in the front seat, as this could cause severe injury to an infant in a front seat positioned child seat. Children who are under the age of 15 are at a significantly high risk for fatal or at least serious injury from air bags when those children are seated in the front passenger seat during car crashes. In those cases, the airbag fails to protect the occupant and can even injure the occupant.
Seat belt injuries
Seat belts are meant to protect us from injury. But a defective seat belt which fails mechanically or which is designed defectively can cause serious injuries in an auto accident. A defective seat belt can be worse than not wearing one at all, even though failure to wear a seat belt is responsible for thousands of deaths a year.
Lap-belt only seat belts, for instance, can fail in their government-imposed duty to “remain on the pelvis under all conditions, including collision or roll-over of the motor vehicle.” FMVSS 209S.4.1(b). In a rear-end auto accident, an occupant restrained by a lap-belt only can slide up and backwards away from the lap-belt and out through a window. In a front-end car accident, the occupant can submarine down and forward, exposing the neck or spinal cord to serious injury.
Other seat belt injuries are the result of inertial releases and mechanical component failures, which can cause the seat belt to release during a car accident. Additionally, if the seat belt anchor is not properly placed, it may not effectively prevent the passenger from moving towards the roof during a rollover. Furthermore, defects in the retractor of the seatbelt may also cause safety issues because it may result in slack in the seat belt, thereby allowing the passenger too much movement in the seat, which can lead to injuries in the event of a crash.
Defective Seat Belt Lawsuits – seat belt cause deaths
The Crashworthiness Litigators represented the Estate of K.F. in an action involving the design of a vehicle. The vehicle had been designed and equipped with a shoulder harness and lap belt that were not integrated, meaning that although the shoulder harness automatically engaged when the occupant shut the door, the lap belt had to be manually secured. K.F. was an 11-year-old girl sitting in the front passenger seat. The Crashworthiness Litigators had gathered evidence that the manufacturer knew that occupants – especially youngsters – were prone to ignore or to forget about the manual lap belt and rely on the shoulder harness alone. This reliance lulls the user into a false sense of security, because a front end collision can cause the occupant to “submarine” under the shoulder harness, which can result in fatal neck injuries. An integrated seat belt system solves the problem of ignoring or forgetting about the manual lap belt. The case settled for a confidential sum.
The crashworthiness litigators currently represent a woman who was permanently and seriously injured in an accident involving a 1992 small sport utility vehicle. This case, currently in litigation, involves allegations of a Takata seatbelt that failed in a foreseeable accident. As a result of the seatbelt failure, our child was ejected through the canvass roof. Her injuries include a scalp avulsion and terrible orthopedic injuries which have left her permanently disabled. If injured by Defective seat belts, consider hiring the Philadelphia Pennsylvania car accident law firm of Mark S Rosenberg.
Seat belt deaths due to faulty seat belt deployment
The design of an estimated 16 million seat belts has recently been brought into question. Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy organization, has gathered reports attributing 14 deaths and 19 serious injuries to the unlatching of GM’s Gen-3 seat belts. The design of the seat belt features a slightly protruding release button, which is more likely to be inadvertently opened by passengers flailing during a rollover than belts with a flush button. The Gen-3 seat belt was replaced with a Gen-4 on the Dodge Durango and Dodge Dakota, but remains standard on many other models.
Car Fires, Van Fires & Ford Vehicle Fires • Car Fuel Fire
In terms of crashworthiness, a fuel fire, such as that seen in Ford Crown Victoria fires, refers to a car fire that is fed by fuel leaking from the gas tank of a vehicle. While some car fires can be caused by wear and tear or design defects, most result from accidents. A car that sustains a significant impact may have the structural integrity of its fuel system damaged. If the gas tank or any of its hoses, connectors, or seals is damaged, fuel can spill and potentially ignite. The fuel fire produced can be very intense and may cause an explosion or vehicle fire. If you are involved in a car fuel fire, consider hiring a Pennsylvania car injury lawyer at the Mark S Rosenburg law firm.
A fuel-fed vehicle fire can cause serious injury or death to vehicle occupants. It is for these reasons that automobile manufacturers must follow certain safety regulations. Automakers who are negligent in their duties to protect consumers can be held liable for the damage done by defective products. If your loved one was seriously injured in a Ford vehicle fire or fuel fire, you may be entitled to seek compensation.
Van Fire
Similar to a car fire, a van fire is generally caused by the ignition of fuel leaked from a gas tank damaged in an accident. Of course vans usually carry more passengers than cars, and one would think that they are safer. One van in particular, the Ford Econoline has shown that this is not necessarily the case. The Econoline van has a defect in the fuel system whereby the dual gas tank under the vehicle tends to overheat. This can cause the gasoline to boil, which cause vapor lock and fuel expulsion. If the expelled fuel is ignited, a van fire ensues.
SUV Rollovers
Sport utility vehicles (SUVs) have a greater tendency to roll over during foreseeable accident collisions compared to regular sedan passenger cars. An SUV roll-over accident is more likely to occur because SUVs have a higher center of gravity. SUVs are often taller than regular passenger cars, but not much wider at the wheelbase. Therefore, a sudden maneuver that would not pose a roll over risk to a regular sedan passenger car can cause an SUV rollover accident. Additionally, the typical SUV tends to have a weak roof and insufficient crash protection, thereby putting passengers at a higher risk for death and paralysis when involved in an SUV roll-over accident.
Speed also plays a role in vehicle rollovers. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, about 75% of SUV fatalities from rollover occur where the posted speed limit is 55 miles per hour or higher.
Rollover accidents are a significant contributor to highway SUV fatalities each year. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, although only a small percentage of vehicle rollover accidents involve vehicle rollover, almost one-third of SUV fatalities from vehicle accidents occur as a result of rollover. Additionally, 60% of deaths in SUVs occur from rollovers. SUV rollovers are particularly likely to result in SUV fatalities if any occupants are not wearing a seatbelt or if the seatbelts are defective. During an SUV roll-over, occupants can be thrown from the vehicle and severely injured or killed or resulting in a rollover spinal cord injury causing an instance of rollover quadriplegic. SUV rollovers can also cause roof crush, which is addressed elsewhere on this website. Some make and model years have a higher propensity to roll over than other make and model years. Because they don’t want to pay compensation for personal injury or wrongful death, manufacturers aggressively defend SUV roll-over accident cases and often attempt to blame the driver or some other party for the injuries.
Double Lane-Change SUV Rollover
An evasive maneuver triggered this rollover of a small SUV. The driver turned from the left hand lane into the right hand lane to avoid the car in front of him, then he turned back into the left hand lane. This classic double lane change maneuver was too much for the physics of the vehicle, the design of which features a short wheelbase. The driver was unable to maintain control, and even though he was driving the speed limit and wearing his seat belt, he suffered fatal injuries when the SUV rolled over. His passenger survived but sustained permanent injuries. This SUV rollover lawsuit recently settled.
Low Speed SUV Rollover
Low-speed side impacts do not usually result in a rollover, but they can for small SUVs with narrow track widths and short wheelbases. This SUV rollover occurred when the driver was side impacted at low speed. A woman was driving her two-door Geo Tracker at or near the posted speed limit of 35 m.p.h. when a car that had come to a complete stop pulled out and struck her on the passenger side. The impact caused the Tracker to spin clock-wise and roll over. Despite being belted, our client was ejected and sustained very serious, permanently disabling injuries. This case resolved shortly before trial and the terms and conditions are confidential. If you are interested in learning more about SUV rollover lawsuits, contact our auto accident lawyers today.
