GMC Sonoma Pickup Truck Rollover Accidents

The national law firm of Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP, represents victims of rollover accidents and other vehicle crashes in personal injury lawsuits. If you or a family member have been injured in a Chevrolet S10 rollover accident, or have lost a family member in a GMC Sonoma rollover accident, please click here to contact a Lieff Cabraser attorney for a free, prompt, no-obligation review of your case.

In 2005, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety issued a report finding that the GMC Sonoma extended cab made between 1999 and 2002 had the third highest rate of driver death of the 48 pickup truck models that were part of the study. The standard size GMC Sonoma truck had the tenth highest driver death rate.

Pickup Truck Rollover Accident and Crashes

A rollover crash can happen in any type of vehicle. Pickup trucks and SUVs, however, are not as safe as many consumers believe because they ride higher from the ground than passenger cars. This makes pickups and SUVs more likely to roll over in a crash.

When rollover accidents occur, they are often fatal. In 2002, sixty-one percent of all occupant fatalities in sport utility vehicles (SUVs) and 45 percent of pickup truck deaths were the result of a rollover crash. By comparison, only 22 percent of passenger car fatalities in 2002 were the result of a rollover crash.

SUV Rollover Dangers

A number of potential safety issues and vehicle defects can contribute to the occurance of SUV rollovers and lead to serious injury or death in the event of a rollover accident. Potential safety issues include:

The vehicle is defective in its handling and stability because it is top-heavy and prone to heavy oversteering by drivers, making a rollover accident likely;
The vehicle is equipped with defective door latches that are too weak to hold the doors shut in a rollover accident, causing passengers to be ejected from these vehicles;
The roof-strength of the SUV is deficient, resulting in a collapse of the roof in a rollover accident;
The vehicle is not equipped with laminated safety glass which would help prevent passengers from being ejected in SUV rollovers; and
The seat belts are defective because they do not automatically retract and tighten during an accident.