In November 2006, a jury awarded the Oklahoma family
of a teenager who died in a Ford Rollover accident $15 million in a lawsuit
against Ford. The jury found that the teen was killed because the Ford
Explorer's roof was too weak to withstand a rollover.
In early 2006, further support that the Explorer is unstable and can
flip over during sudden driving maneuvers surfaced in an Explorer rollover
trial in Mississippi. Ford's test results of replacement tires for
the Explorer, introduced as evidence in the trial, indicated that the
vehicle is unstable not only on Firestone tires but also on tires made
by Goodyear, Michelin's Uniroyal, Continental and other manufacturers.
Some of the failed tires had been approved by Ford as replacement brands.
In September 2005, a Texas jury found that Ford Motor Co. should pay
$42 million to the family of a 10-year-old boy who was killed when he
was partly ejected from a Ford Expedition in a 2004 rollover accident.
The boy, Matthew Marroquin, was wearing his seat belt when the vehicle's
side window shattered and the boy hit the ground as it rolled, his family
said. The suit is one of a growing number claiming automakers should
have used stronger glass in side and rear windows to prevent ejections
and partial ejections. The family's attorneys said laminated glass would
have protected the boy.
In March 2005, a jury found Ford responsible for the deaths of Corina
Garcia and Diana Alicia of Crystal City, Texas. The jury was presented
evidence that the 2000 Ford Explorer was defective in its design because
Ford used tempered side glass instead of laminated safety glass. Available
for decades, laminated glass substantially reduces the risk of passengers
being ejected in a rollover accident.
In August 2004, Ford settled a rollover death case involving its Explorer
as a jury was considering whether to award punitive damages. Earlier,
the jury in Fort Meyers, Florida, awarded the family of victim Bob Miller
$5.3 million in compensatory damages. Miller was on his way home from
his roofing job and was wearing his seat belt and a hard hat when a tire
lots its tread, causing the Explorer to swerve and then flip over.
In June 2004, a jury in San Diego, California, returned the first plaintiff's
verdict in a lawsuit challenging the safety of the Ford Explorer. The
plaintiff, Benetta Buell-Wilson, was left paralyzed when the roof of
her 1997 Ford Explorer caved in after it rolled over when she swerved
to avoid an object in the road. Buell Wilson charged that the Ford Explorer
was unstable and had a weak roof. |
