Every SUV on the nation’s highway is more unstable than a regular automobile. The manufacturers have spent millions of dollars trying to convince the motoring public that various safety devices such as ABS braking and suspension improvements have made the SUV safe and less prone to rollovers. That is just not true.
The catastrophic danger of a roof collapsing in a rollover is that the passengers, wearing a seatbelt, will take the full force of the collapse on their heads, bending and fracturing the individuals back and spinal column. This may result in lifelong paralysis from the neck down (paraplegia and/or quadriplegia).
Notwithstanding the inherent dangers of SUV vehicles, even ordinary automobiles can rollover during crash sequences. This is a foreseeable and well known phenomenon based upon over 100 years of automobile experience. Therefore, the manufacturers are well aware that they must design their vehicles to be safe in a rollover and to protect the occupants from catastrophic collapse and crushing injuries from the roof collapsing.
Most automobiles and SUVs are designed around a central steel frame located at wheel level. The rest of the car is bolted or welded into a box like structure on top of that frame. The safety of the passengers in a rollover is directly related to the strength of the box with standing the force exerted on the roof by both the weight of the car and the forces exerted by the speed of the collision.
The United States has a set of rules set forth in the National Highway Traffic Safety Standards requiring, among other things various crash tests to be performed by the manufacturers of their vehicles before they can be sold in the United States. These rules are totally inadequate regarding roof collapses as to be meaningless in the real world.
If you or a loved one are injured by the roof collapse of a vehicle, is imperative that you immediately contact an attorney knowledgeable and skilled in this area. The best evidence of what happened is represented by the vehicle itself. In most cases, the insurance companies take the vehicle and it will be destroyed within a short period of time after the crash assuming it is not repairable. If it is repairable, repairs will destroy the evidence of what happened and why the roof collapsed causing your injuries. Your case would be severely compromised without the evidence of the vehicle itself.
Also, many vehicles on the nation’s highway are manufactured by foreign corporations. These corporations insulate themselves from lawsuits in the United States by various layers of corporations and entities. Is unfair to you as a consumer that you are not able to go after the actual manufacturers and designers of the defective vehicle. However, a lawyer skilled in this area is your best option to bring the negligent parties to the courtroom.
