Maryland Accident Law Blog

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration needs more time to revise its auto roof standards. The deadline to toughen the current regulation setting standards, which are 35 years old, is July 1, but the NHTSA is allowed to ask the US Congress for an extension.

The NHTSA’s current proposal, introduced in 2005, requires new roofs to be able to endure a force equal to 2.5 times the weight of a vehicle, while allowing for enough head room protection for the average adult male. It also calls for testing both sides of a roof. The current standard calls for a roof to withstand 1.5 times it’s vehicles weight and the testing of only one side of the roof.

The auto strength regulations are designed to provide safety protection for people that are involved in rollover accidents, which account for 1/3rd of all motor vehicle fatalities. About10,000 people are killed in rollover accidents each year.

The NHTSA has said that increasing the weight standard to the proposed regulations should save 13-44 lives and prevent some 800 injuries annually. Opponents of the current proposal, however, say that the new proposed standard is not enough. Some critics also want the NHTSA to get rid of a provision in the new proposal that prevents injured plaintiffs from filing state injury lawsuits if the vehicle involved in the accident had met the new roof safety standards.

While motor vehicle rollover accidents can happen because of driver negligence, there are rollover crashes that do occur because of defects in the design or manufacture of a motor vehicle, including a poorly designed roof structure, an auto designed with a gravity center that is too high, and defective tires.

Our Maryland and Washington DC law firm has helped drivers and passengers injured in accidents obtain compensation from negligent auto manufacturers. We have the resources and experience to successfully take on your case.

New auto roof rules delayed, DetNews.com, June 23, 2008

`Roof Crush' Rule for Rollovers Faces Deadline, Bloomberg.com, June 17, 2007

Related Web Resource:
Roof Crush Resistance Proposal, NHTSA

Continue reading "NHTSA Wants to Delay Deadline for New Auto Roof Standards" »

Test results conducted by the Insurance Institute For Highway Safety found that the stronger the SUV’s roof, the lower the risks of serious injury or death.

The IIHS tested 11 sport utility vehicles and found that the stronger roofs had a 39%-57% lower injury risk than SUVs with weaker roofs.

The IIHS says that over 200 lives could have been saved in 2006, during rollover accidents, if the SUVs had better roofs. 35% of motor vehicle deaths involve rollover crashes, with 60% of these rollovers involving SUVs.

The SUV’s roof that received the highest strength rating was the 2000-2004 Nissan Xterra. The SUV’s roof that received the lowest strength rating was the 1999- 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee.

A roof that crushes in during a rollover can cause serious injuries to passengers, who can sustain traumatic brain injuries or traumatic brain injuries when struck by the crushed roof.

Examples tragic SUV rollover accidents involving crushed roofs:

• Tyler Moody, 18, died of "positional asphyxiation “during an SUV rollover crash. His family’s wrongful death attorneys said the crushed roof cut off his breathing.

• Recently, a California appeals court ordered Ford to pay a paralyzed woman $82.6 million for injuries sustained during an SUV rollover also involving a crushed roof.

A trade group that represents Toyota, GM, Chrysler, and a few other auto makers, called the study flawed.

SUV Accident Facts from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration:

• Over 90% of SUV rollover crashes are single-car accidents.
• The most common kind of injury sustained in rollover crashes is head trauma.

In Maryland and Washington D.C., our personal injury law firm represents clients in SUV rollover accidents and other kinds ofproducts liability and car accident cases.

Report Says Weak SUV Roofs Are Deadly, U.S. News, March 13, 2008

Crash-test report backs stronger roofs on SUVs, USA Today, March 12, 2008

Related Web Resource:

Roof Strength and Injury Risk in Rollover Crashes (PDF)

Insurance Institute for Highway Safety

Continue reading "Insurance Institute For Highway Safety Says Making Stronger SUV Roofs Could Save Lives During Rollover Accidents" »

Five teenagers died in a fiery motor vehicle collision on Tuesday when the SUV they were riding in struck a tractor-trailer. Bailey Goodman, Hannah Congdon, Meredith McClure, Katherine Shirley, and Sarah Monnat had been members of Fairport High’s varsity cheerleading squad in New York, although Shirley left the team following her freshman year.

The girls were headed to a vacation home along Keuka Lake when the sports utility vehicle that they were riding in swerved into ongoing traffic and crashed into the tractor-trailer. Both vehicles then crashed into a fence next to a bed-and-breakfast outside East Bloomfield. The five girls died in the fiery collision. Four friends traveling in another motor vehicle witnessed the deadly crash. The driver of the tractor-trailer was not hurt.

The cause of the crash is under investigation.

An investigation to determine who is at fault will have to take place anytime there is a motor vehicle collision and someone is seriously injured or killed.

A person who sustains serious injuries from an SUV, truck, car, or motorcycle accident because someone else was at fault may have grounds to file a personal injury claim. If someone was killed in a traffic accident because another person was negligent, the victim’s family members may have grounds to file a wrongful death lawsuit.

A good personal injury lawyer can determine who was at fault for causing the accident. He or she also has the knowledge, tools, and experience to figure out if a defect in the vehicle caused the accident and a manufacturer or distributor is to blame. Common grounds for a motor vehicle product liability claim include defective tires, defective airbag, defective seatbelts, and defective breaks.

Recovering from an accident is stressful enough without having to worry about medical or recovery costs.

Continue reading "Five High School Cheerleaders Die When SUV Crashes Into Tractor-Trailer" »