2004 Vehicle Safety Press Articles

2010 | 2009 | 2008 | 2007 | 2006 | 2005 | 2004 | 2003 | 2002 | 2001

December 28, 2004

The Washington Post, "A Lethal Combination"

The many factors in the crash that killed 16-year-old Lauren Sausville on Dec. 3 came together in a split second, on a curve that would claim her life.

Hurrying to catch up to a friend on Colchester Road in Fairfax County that night, police say, her vehicle's excessive speed, the darkness, the beer she'd had, her inexperience as a driver increased the odds of a crash. And then there was the 1999 Ford Explorer she drove, a sport-utility vehicle that her stepmother, Debbie Sausville, called "too much car" for a 5-foot-4 high school junior who weighed barely 100 pounds. More...

December 24, 2004

Daytona Beach News-Journal, "Deltona man warns of truck fires"

A Deltona man whose Ford pickup caught fire in his garage, extensively damaging his home, is warning others that it could happen to them, too.

Roberto Garcia-Nazario said his 1999 Ford F-150 burst into flames the evening of Dec. 13, some nine and a half hours after he parked it and turned off the ignition.

Garcia, who ran for mayor in Deltona's first municipal elections in 1995, said he "lost everything" in the fire, and his main concern is that it also could happen to someone else. More...

December 17, 2004

The National Law Journal, "Lawsuits Over Tire-Tread Separations Gain Momentum; Tires 6 years and older, regardless of mileage, are a danger, actions allege"

Auto accidents allegedly caused by tire-tread separations are sparking lawsuits across the country, with plaintiffs charging that tire manufacturers are selling tires without warning consumers of the potential risk when the tires get older.

A handful of cases have settled, and about 25 lawsuits are currently pending in several states, including California, Florida, North Carolina and Texas, according to attorneys involved in tire litigation. More...

December 13, 2004

Car and Driver, "Ford Recalls Even More Escape/Tribute SUVs"

Ford has expanded its just-announced recall of Escape and Mazda Tribute SUVs to nearly 600,000 vehicles, Reuters reported, citing the automaker and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Ford originally said it was recalling 474,000 vehicles because an accelerator cable may prevent their engines from returning to idle, increasing stopping distances and potentially resulting in a crash.

Now, Ford says, the recall will include 474,000 Escapes as well as 121,000 Mazda Tributes from the 2002-2004 model years. Ford owns one-third of Mazda.

December 15, 2004

Tri-City Herald, "Families work to prevent van accidents"

A year ago today, two Prosser High School students, Belen Campos and Corinne Bardessono, died when a 15-passenger Ford van carrying them slid on black ice on Highway 395 near Ritzville and rolled.

They were traveling to Cheney to tour Eastern Washington University with Upward Bound when the accident occurred. More...

December 13, 2004

The National Law Journal, "Tire-tread separations at center of lawsuits"

Auto accidents allegedly caused by tire-tread separations are sparking lawsuits across the country, with plaintiffs charging that tire manufacturers are selling tires without warning consumers of the potential risk when the tires get older. A handful of cases have settled, and about 25 lawsuits are currently pending in several states, including California, Florida, North Carolina and Texas, according to attorneys involved in tire litigation. More...

December 8, 2004

Los Angeles Times, "Commuter Van Over the Side in Angeles Forest"

A commuter van carrying employees from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory plunged down a steep mountain ravine in Angeles National Forest above La Canada this morning, killing at least three people and leaving several others trapped in the vehicle, authorities said.

The white van was reportedly carrying 10 people when it drove off Angeles Forest Highway near Angeles Crest Highway about 6:30 a.m. and tumbled down a hillside, according to Los Angeles County Fire Inspector Ron Haralson. The injured, whose conditions ranged from critical to serious, were being airlifted to nearby hospitals, officials said.

The narrow and winding Angeles Forest Highway has become a popular commuter shortcut between the Antelope Valley and Los Angeles for drivers looking to avoid the congested 14 and 5 freeways, according to National Forest Service officials.

November 25, 2004

The Detroit News, "Florida appeals court allows family to seek punitive damages from Firestone"

A Florida appeals court ruled Wednesday that a family injured in a rollover caused by a faulty Firestone tire can sue the company for punitive damages. A jury awarded $55,400 to Carolyn Holmes in 2003, and decided that Firestone was 20 percent liable because it didn't warn about the defect. But the trial judge ruled that Holmes couldn't seek punitive damages.

The 4th District Court of Appeals reversed the decision about punitive damages, saying that if Firestone knew about tread separation problems but delayed warning the public in order to protect its financial interests, punitive damages would be supported.

Holmes, of Pembroke Pines, was driving her Ford Explorer in October 1999 when the tread on the rear left ATX tire separated, causing the SUV to rollover. Holmes suffered lacerations and a crushed arm. The jury decided that a car care company that had repaired Holmes' car just weeks before the rollover was 80 percent liable. In August 2000, Firestone recalled the tires.

November 8, 2004

Detroit Free Press, "Safety group seeks tire expiration date; Older tires with very little wear are called an 'invisible hazard' and blamed for 37 deaths"

A consumer safety group is petitioning the federal government to require easy-to-read "born-on" dates for car and truck tires, citing 50 crashes resulting in 37 fatalities caused by older tires with very little wear and tear. According to Sean Kane, president of SRS, tire performance can start to degrade after six years - even if the tires have not been used - because of the rubber's age. "It's an invisible hazard," Kane said. "The industry knows a lot about it, and they have recommendations that they've hidden from the public for years."

In many of the accidents documented by SRS, tires with little wear in the tread suddenly failed.

Three weeks after a Toyota dealer performed service on the vehicle, rotating an original spare tire onto the right rear wheel, the tread separated at highway speed, resulting in a rollover. A young mother died from head injuries in that incident.

October 28, 2004

The New York Times, "Study Backs Systems to Aid Auto Stability"

A new study by the insurance industry says that the stability systems available in some cars and trucks can greatly reduce the likelihood of an accident. The technology, which applies brake pressure to help a driver maintain control of the vehicle, was found to reduce the chances of a fatal crash by 34 percent, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. More...

October 28, 2004

The Los Angeles Times, "Ford Win in Rollover Case Is Reversed"

A U.S. appeals court reversed a 2003 jury verdict that found Ford Motor Co. wasn't liable for the death of a mother and a daughter in an Explorer rollover accident.

A federal appeals court in San Francisco last week ordered a new trial for the family of Angela and McKenna Jaramillo, who were killed in August 2000 in an accident involving a Ford Explorer. The court found the trial judge shouldn't have let Ford introduce evidence on other rollover accidents.

October 22, 2004

Detroit News, "Groups advocate safer power windows; want tougher rule than proposal approved by feds"

Major consumer groups Thursday asked federal regulators to reconsider and make tougher a regulation that would require safer power window designs.

On Sept. 13, NHTSA issued new rules it said would lead to safer power window switches. Seven children have died this year after accidentally stepping on or leaning on "rocker" window switches.

The 11 groups said the government did not go far enough with the new regulation by failing to require auto-reverse mechanisms like those featured on garage doors.

Similar power-window retractors are standard equipment on 80 percent of vehicles in Europe, the groups said. They estimated the technology would initially cost $50 per vehicle, and be reduced with mass production.

September 24, 2004

Detroit Free Press, "U.S. keeping crash data secret"

Federal auto safety officials are backtracking on a pledge to give consumers access to detailed data on which cars and trucks may be linked to deaths, injuries and property damage. The reason: Tire makers have sued to prevent its release. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) says it will hold off indefinitely on releasing the information while the lawsuit by the country's largest tire makers is argued and decided, which could take months, if not years. Consumer advocates have been clamoring for the release of such data since the 2000 Ford-Firestone rollover debacle. More...

August 25, 2004

Los Angeles Times, "Regulators Step Up Probe of Ford Car"

Safety regulators stepped up a probe into faulty door latches on 261,000 of Ford Motor Co.'s Focus cars from the 2000 model year, the U.S. government said.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said an evaluation of the problem had been escalated to the status of an "engineering analysis," which often precedes a safety recall. Also, NHTSA said it opened an engineering analysis of about 110,000 of Toyota Motor Corp.'s 2002-model Tundra pickup trucks after receiving complaints of a faulty ball joint in the front suspension that resulted in a loss of vehicle control or front braking ability.

August 20, 2004

Religion News Service, "Lawsuit filed over van rollover deaths"

The estates of five young people killed in a single-vehicle church van rollover accident last year have sued Ford Motor Co. and Enterprise Rent-A-Car, claiming Ford was negligent in manufacturing its Econoline E-350 15-passenger van, and Enterprise knew the vans were dangerous. More...

August 20, 2004

Bloomberg News, "Ford settles Florida rollover lawsuit"

Ford Motor Co. settled a rollover-death case involving its Explorer sport-utility vehicle as a Florida jury considered whether to award $48 million in punitive damages to the victim’s family.

A Fort Myers, Florida., federal jury awarded the victim’s family $5.3 million in compensatory damages Wednesday and was considering punitive damages when lawyers settled for an undisclosed amount.The family of Bob Miller, who was 57 when he died, filed the suit.

The family’s lawyer, Richard Denney told jurors the Explorer’s rear tires lose control of their direction because they bounce off of the ground. The bouncing is caused by a soft suspension system on a solid axle, he said. Miller was on his way home from his roofing job and was wearing his seat belt and a hard hat when a tire lost its tread, his lawyers said. He lost control of the Explorer and it flipped over.

August 17, 2004

The New York Times, "Safety Gap Grows Wider Between S.U.V.'s and Cars"

The gap in safety between sport utility vehicles and passenger cars last year was the widest yet recorded, according to new federal traffic data. People driving or riding in a sport utility vehicle in 2003 were nearly 11 percent more likely to die in an accident than people in cars, the figures show. More...

August 16, 2004

Detroit News, "Feds link injuries to weak roofs; Auto industry will challenge new drive to toughen regulations"

A new federal study that could have major implications in the growing debate over vehicle roof strength found a strong link between fatalities and injuries, and the severity of crushed roofs in rollover accidents. Automakers have contended for years that there’s no solid evidence of a correlation between roof strength and the likelihood of injury and death in rollover accidents. More...

August 12, 2004

Long Beach Press Telegram, "3 killed in SUV rollover on I-210"

A sport utility vehicle rolled over on a freeway Thursday, killing three people and injuring four others, including a boy who was hurled onto adjacent commuter rail tracks where a train severed one of his legs, authorities said. The boy, whose age was estimated at 5 to 10 years old, was in critical condition while another person was hospitalized in cardiac arrest and two others had major head injuries and broken bones, said Lisa Derdarian of the Pasadena Fire Department.

The accident occurred about 10:10 a.m. on the Foothill (210) Freeway. The Metro Gold Line light rail track runs down the median, separated from the east-and westbound lanes of the freeway by fences. Two people died at the scene and a third was pronounced dead at a hospital, Derdarian said.

August 11, 2004

The Dallas Morning News, "Big rigs, big risks on highways"

The truck had two bad brakes and a tired driver. It carried a load of cars. And it slammed into the back of an SUV carrying two young boys and their fathers. One of the dads was a firefighter, the other a state trooper whose job was to keep bad rigs off the road. Everybody died. More...

August 10, 2004

The Wall Street Journal, "Safety Data Give SUVs Poor Grade In Rollover Tests"

More than a third of the most popular 2004-model sport-utility vehicles show a tendency to roll over, federal car-safety regulators said yesterday, giving auto makers another dent in their SUV lines. More...

August 9, 2004

Associated Press, "Government releases new rating system for vehicle rollovers"

The government's traffic safety agency is expanding its rollover rating system for cars and trucks. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's old rollover ratings were based on height and width as well as a test that includes a sharp turn at up to 80 kph (50 mph) Five stars are given to vehicles that roll over 10 percent of the time or less, and one star to vehicles that roll over between 40 and 50 percent of the time. More...

August 9, 2004

The Associated Press, "Lawmaker calls for stronger guardrails on highways"

A lawmaker called for stronger guardrails along Florida's highways Monday after a church bus plunged into a canal and killed three children. State Rep. Irv Slosberg, D-Boca Raton, said highways should be lined by barriers similar to those used to keep airplanes on aircraft carriers. More...

August 9, 2004

CNN/Money, "SUVs ranked for rollover safety"

The 2-wheel drive Ford Explorer SportTrac was the lowest-rated SUV, with a 35 percent chance of rolling over in a single-vehicle crash. Previously, NHTSA had used a five-star rating system to measure an SUV's tendency to roll over in a crash. The system covered all types of vehicles, not just SUVs, and SUVs overwhelmingly tended to have three-star ratings. Of the 28 SUV that had been rated before today, 20 had three star ratings and just one, the 2-wheel SportTrac, had a two-star rating. Seven had four star ratings.

SUVs overwhelmingly tended to have three-star ratings. Of the 28 SUVs that had been rated before today, 20 had three-star ratings and just one, the 2-wheel drive Ford Explorer SportTrac, had a two-star rating. A four-star rating means that an SUV has a 10 to 20 percent chance of rolling over in a single-vehicle crash. Three- and two-star ratings correlate to 20-to-30 and 30-to-40 percent odds of a rollover, respectively.

August 7, 2004

Detroit Free Press, "U.S. regulators to gauge rollover risk; Vehicles to be ranked good to bad"

U.S. safety regulators will begin predicting the probability that a vehicle will roll over, cause of more than half the fatalities for sport-utility vehicles.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, responsible for issuing rollover ratings since 2000, will assign scores to supplement results based on test track performance and a mathematical formula, spokesman Rae Tyson said. The agency starting Monday will rank from best to worst cars, SUVs, minivans or pickups, he said. More...

August 4, 2004

Los Angeles Times, "Don't get burned by your tires this summer; Wear and improper inflation can lead to dangerous blowouts, especially when it's hot"

Everything is ready for your end-of-summer family vacation. Or is it? There's one item that is easy to forget but could have some terrible consequences if neglected.

Tire pressure. Driving on bald or under-inflated tires on hot summer days can lead to disaster, auto safety and tire experts warn. Underinflated tires fail because they overheat, which leads to the breakdown of the tire's internal structure.

Improper inflation also can reduce your ability to control your vehicle. Dangerous tire blowouts occur more during summer months than at any other time of the year, safety advocates say. If you are traveling in an SUV or pickup truck, the risk can be even greater.

August 4, 2004

The Associated Press, "Families sue Ford, Enterprise over van crash"

The families of five people killed when the Ford van they rented rolled over last year sued the car company and Enterprise Rent-A-Car. The lawsuit, filed in Alameda County Superior Court in Hayward on Tuesday, says the companies knew the 2002 Ford Econoline E-350 van was unsafe and failed to warn the group that was taking a trip to a religious retreat.

Enterprise, which now requires customers renting 15-passenger vans to sign a statement advising them of the risk, expressed sympathy but declined to comment on the details of the case. The group rented three vans to carry people to an annual retreat at a monastery in San Bernardino County. One of the vans, which can carry 15 people, rolled over on Interstate 15 on March 29, 2003, after the driver lost control.

The van was rented from an Enterprise branch in Hayward. According to the lawsuit, Ford and Enterprise had been warned by two federal safety agencies that the vans, when occupied by at least 10 people, had a higher rollover rate than those carrying fewer passengers.

August 3, 2004

The Kansas City Star, "When Thomas was injured at heart of case; Witness blames SUV roof's collapse"

Amid clashing theories involving complex math, a pair of shoes became key evidence Monday in the Derrick Thomas wrongful-death case. Shoes likely to be those of Thomas were found on the grassy median of Interstate 435 -- midway between his crumpled sport-utility vehicle and where Thomas came to rest, shoeless, on the other lanes of the highway.

An expert witness called by lawyers for Thomas' mother and seven children testified that the shoes could not have landed there if Thomas ejected from his SUV the way General Motors Corp. experts suggest. Other testimony included a videotape of Chiefs President and General Manager Carl Peterson. Just weeks before the accident, Peterson said, he offered Thomas a five-year contract for more than $22 million.

The Thomas family contends that GM is at fault for the Jan. 23, 2000, rollover accident that paralyzed and later caused the death of the Chiefs' star. They contend that Thomas was injured when the roof of his Chevy Suburban crushed about midway through three rollovers, and not when Thomas was ejected through the driver's side window. The defense contends Thomas drove too fast, did not wear a seat belt and was injured when thrown from the SUV before the roof buckled.

July 31, 2004

The Montgomery Advertiser, "Rollover accident gets 15-passenger van sacked"

The children from Kidz First Camp will no longer be traveling in a 15-passenger van, the camp's director said Friday. That decision comes after an accident two weeks ago that injured nine children when the van they were traveling in rolled over into a ditch along Interstate 65 on a field trip. It also comes two months after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration reissued a rollover warning to users of the vans.

The risk of rollovers with 15-passenger vans has been a concern for several years, with 1,576 vans involved in fatal crashes between 1990 and 2002, NHTSA statistics show. Of those crashes, 349 were single-vehicle rollover crashes. Because of the dangers, the state of Alabama has a ban on the vans. "They flip in a heartbeat," said Montgomery County Board of Education spokeswoman Angela Mann. "No county in the state uses them."

There is also a federal ban on the sale of 15-passenger vans to schools for transporting high-school age and younger students, the NHTSA said. While the law prohibits the sale for school-related use, no such prohibition exists for vehicles to transport college students or other adult passengers. Day-care centers also use the vans.

July 29, 2004

Philippine Daily Inquirer, "A Roof-Crush Lawsuit"

Despite multimillion-dollar lawsuits arising from rollover accidents involving sport utility vehicles in the United States, SUVs and pickup trucks continue to outsell passenger cars. A series of lawsuits have charged General Motors, Ford and other auto manufacturers with failing to protect occupants in rollovers of SUVs and pickups.

The Detroit News cited federal statistics showing that an estimated 7,000 people are killed or seriously injured each year in rollovers in which the roof was crushed. More...

July 28, 2004

Tri-City Herald (Washington), "Large vans focus of lawsuit"

Tim and Frances Bardessono couldn't help but notice the large number of 15-passenger vans on the road as the Prosser couple drove to Seattle. Their daughter, Corinne Bardessono, 15, was killed in December when the 15-passenger Ford van she was riding in hit black ice on Highway 395 near Ritzville and rolled. Belen Campos, 17, also died in the accident. The two girls were classmates at Prosser High School. More...

July 27, 2004

The New York Times, "Suspension Failure on Saturn SUV's in Rollover Tests Prompts Inquiry"

The suspensions on two Saturn Vue sport utility vehicles broke during rollover tests performed by the government last month, causing the left rear wheels of the vehicles to collapse. The suspension failures occurred in separate tests of the two- and four-wheel-drive versions of the Vue, which is made by General Motors. More...

July 27, 2004

Los Angeles Times, "Saturn Vue SUV Fails in Rollover Tests"

General Motors Corp. faces a U.S. safety probe and a potential recall of 227,303 Saturn Vue sport utility vehicles because the rear suspension collapsed during federal rollover tests. The review covers 2002 through 2004 models, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said.

The suspension failure in both four- and two-wheel-drive 2004 Vues was the first in rollover driving tests added this year. The left rear wheel collapsed under the vehicle, NHTSA said. A GM spokesman said he was unaware of any problems with the Vue suspension and that the automaker was cooperating with the agency.

July 16, 2004

Bloomberg News, "DaimlerChrysler loses bid to reverse $54 million award to Valley woman"

DaimlerChrysler AG, the world's fifth-largest automaker, lost a bid to have an Arizona judge reverse or cut a $53.75 million jury award to a Phoenix woman paralyzed when the seat of her Dodge Ram pickup broke during an accident. The company argued that the $50 million punitive part of the damages violated U.S. Supreme Court rules on the size of such verdicts. Maricopa Superior Court Judge Robert Gottsfield, who upheld the verdict last Friday, said the punitive award wasn't excessive.

Minnie Mae Douglas, 61, was injured in 1999 when her extended-cab pickup truck spun out of control and hit a highway overpass near Phoenix. She claimed a bracket broke, causing her seat to collapse and allowing her head to hit the back seat. A state court jury awarded Douglas and her husband, Ollie, $53.75 million, including $50 million in punitive damages, in November. The punitive award against DaimlerChrysler "is supported by clear and convincing evidence of pursuing a course of conduct consciously knowing it created a substantial risk of significant harm to others," Gottsfield said in his decision.

July 9, 2004

The Washington Post, "27 Fires Linked to Oil Changes in Honda CR-V"

At least 27 Honda CR-V sport-utility vehicles from the 2003 and 2004 model years burst into flames shortly after getting their first oil changes, according to records provided to the federal government by the manufacturer. While no injuries were reported, many of the vehicles were destroyed, usually with 10,000 miles or fewer on their odometers. More...

July 7, 2004

Associated Press, "Ford recalls 171,000 defective vehicles"

Ford Motor Co. said Wednesday it has voluntarily recalled about 171,000 of 2003 and 2004 model vehicles for a variety of defects. The largest group includes 92,000 of 2003 F-Series Super Duty pickup trucks and Excursion sport utility vehicles, spokesman Glenn Ray said.

He said there may be a problem with the battery ground connection to the engine block on models with six-liter diesel engines. In the worst case, he said, a smoldering fire could result from a loose ground connection. He said there have been 35 reports of alleged fires related to the problem, but no accidents or injuries.

July 2, 2004

Associated Press, "DaimlerChrysler AG Recalling More Than 20,000 Vehicles for Safety Defects"

DaimlerChrysler AG is recalling at least 20,000 vehicles because of safety defects, the company said Friday. The recall affects 2005 models of the Chrysler 300 and Dodge Magnum and 2004 models of the Chrysler Sebring and Jeep Liberty.

Chrysler Group spokesman Max Gates said the company wants to inspect and possibly repair the battery cable connections on 20,060 vehicles, tighten safety belt attachments on 12,211 vehicles and inspect and possibly repair the child seat anchor systems on 12 vehicles. Gates said some of the models may have one or more defects and some may have none at all. The company is still determining which vehicles are affected, he said.

June 30, 2004

Los Angeles Times, "Power window reforms sought in wake of deaths"

 At least seven children nationwide have died since March 30 from strangulation or asphyxiation after their necks were caught by power windows. The rash of deaths has prompted safety advocates to increase pressure on Congress to enact measures that would require vehicles to have safer power-window switches. "We are devastated by these fatalities," says Janette Fennell, president of Kids and Cars, a consumer advocate group that has strenuously pushed for tougher vehicle safety. "Congress can stop children from being needlessly killed by dangerous power windows." More...

June 28, 2004

Associated Press, "Florida truck driver dies when semi rolls over"

Two people, including a Florida man, died after a semi with a trailer full of vitamins rolled over near Parley's Canyon, during a trip that started in Miami. Police believe the accident was caused after the truck's brakes failed.

The driver seems to have steered off the road and up a mountain slope when he couldn't slow his rig. The truck rolled down a steep hill on the other side of that slope, sliding into an emergency lane of traffic. The driver, 45-year-old Gregorio Hernandez, of Florida, and Rafael Cruz, the 7-year-old son of his girlfriend, of Waterbury, Conn., were killed.

June 24, 2004

Washington Post, "Car Window Deaths Anger Safety Groups"

At least seven children have died nationwide in the past three months by getting strangled in automobile power windows, prompting safety advocates to charge the auto industry and the government with dragging their feet in making relatively simple changes to reduce the danger. More...

June 23, 2004

The Wall Street Journal, "Rollover Scores Downplay Road Test"

The government's much-touted new rollover test is facing mounting criticism.

In data released by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration so far this year, eight of the nine vehicles that tipped up onto two wheels -- a sure sign of unsteadiness and an event that precedes a rollover -- scored a passing grade. Five of the nine actually improved their overall score from previous years.

The Toyota Tacoma Extended Cab 4x2 pickup tipped up on the test and still received a four-star rating, the same as most low-to-the-ground passenger cars. Four stars means the vehicle has a 10% to 20% chance of rolling over in a crash involving just one vehicle.

"The result defies common sense and it gives a misleading impression to the consumer," says R. David Pittle, senior vice president for technical policy at Consumers Union, publisher of Consumer Reports.

Joan Claybrook, the former head of NHTSA who now runs consumer advocacy group Public Citizen, says the ratings need to be re-evaluated.

June 16, 2004

Good Morning America, "One Wrong Move: Car Window Switches Can Be Deadly for Children"

Matthew Chappell was serving in the Middle East with the U.S. Air Force when he got the bad news. His 4-year-old daughter was killed in an accident involving a car.

But the May 24 accident in Box Elder, S.D., had nothing to do with a collision. Instead, Hailee Chappell was caught and killed in a power window. More...

June 16, 2004

CNN Money, "Behind the rollover ratings: NHTSA's SUV rating system doesn't say much"

If you're shopping for a new sport utility vehicle and you want to buy one that's less likely to roll over in a crash, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's five-star rollover resistance ratings can be helpful.

Unfortunately, they can also be very confusing. More...

June 16, 2004

The Auto Channel.com, "Brose North America Launches Power Window Consumer Awareness Campaign Educates public on importance of power window safety in vehicles"

Brose North America, Inc., has launched a national consumer awareness advertising campaign and Web site (http://www.window-safety.com/ ) focused on power window safety. The "Do You Protect What You Value Most?" advertisements educate consumers on the potential dangers of power windows in vehicles, and inform them of anti-trap technology currently available in selected vehicles in North America.

Vehicle power windows can cause harm to children by closing with enough force to cause broken arms or hands, and even lead to suffocation. Anti-trap technology can prevent such accidents by monitoring window speed and direction by utilizing an indirect detection system. If an object enters the path of the automatically closing window, the contact with the object triggers the motor to reverse the direction. Although this option is available, it is currently installed on less than 10 percent of automobiles in the United States.

According to non-profit safety organization Kids and Cars, since 1990 at least 35 children have been killed and 500 people per year are treated in emergency rooms -- 50 percent of which are children -- when power windows have closed on them. The organization states that within the past 67 days, six children have been killed in the United States as a result of power window accidents.

June 16, 2004

Tampa Bay News 10, "Power Window Dangers"

Bevin Maynard is the Children’s Safety Advocate at St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital in Tampa, and can demonstrate just how much power there is in a vehicle’s power window. She takes a pair of carrots, and flicks the power window up. Just as the windows hit the top, the carrots snap.

And sometimes the outcome is fatal. On May 2, 1998, 2-year-old MacKenzie Dufresne was left alone in her mother’s car for just a few seconds. Her mother turned the key to auxiliary, so the toddler could listen to a Barney tape.

The child apparently stepped on a toggle switch, and rolled the window up on her neck, strangling and killing her.

Mary Kay Staver hopes her story will convince other parents to be extremely careful with toddlers in the car. Safety advocates warn never leave a child alone for even a split second.

June 13, 2004

Newsday (New York), "GM's Stabilitrak"

General Motors says the addition of its stability enhancement system to 15-passenger vans is preventing accidents. The assertions come at a time when the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is restating its warning of the rollover risk of 15-passenger vans. More...

June 9, 2004

Associated Press, "Two die in pickup-trailer rollover"

A pickup carrying four members of a family and hauling a loaded horse trailer went out of control and rolled on Interstate 80, killing the two parents and injuring their two children.

Killed in the wreck 30 miles east of Rock Springs, Wyoming were Kimberly Perryman, 37, and Harold Perryman, 38, both of Weston, Idaho, according to the state Highway Patrol.

The patrol said the Ford F-250 pickup, driven by Kimberly Perryman, was pulling a horse trailer loaded with five horses and eastbound when it drifted onto the right shoulder. The driver overcorrected to the left, causing the driver to lose control, the patrol said. Kimberly and Harold Perryman were both ejected during the ensuing rollover.

June 8, 2004

The Detroit News, "Van rollovers spark driver training, fixes; Churches, schools abandon, modify 15-passenger vehicles"

In Metro Detroit and across the country, fears about the stability and safety of 15-passenger vans have prompted owners churches, child-care centers and white-water rafting operators to rip out seats, arrange special driver training and even install dual rear wheels. Some owners have gone a step further, trading in the vans for small school buses and other vehicles. More...

June 8, 2004

The Daily News of Los Angeles, "Tire Failure Leads to Two Fatal Crashes"

Three people from Tehachapi and Rosamond died in two separate weekend crashes on Highway 58 after tread came off tires on the vehicles in which they were riding, officials said Monday.

Tehachapi residents John Paul Verstraeten, 24, and Jessica Cristanelli, 20, were fatally injured Saturday afternoon just east of Bakersfield, California when their westbound sport utility vehicle overturned on Highway 58 after the tread came off the right front tire, California Highway Patrol officials said. More...

June 8, 2004

The New York Times, "Some Popular SUV's Fare Badly in Rollover Tests"

The rear-wheel-drive version of the Ford Explorer, the nation's best-selling sport utility vehicle, tipped up on two wheels during a rollover test performed by the government, according to results released Monday. The news comes less than a week after a woman paralyzed in an Explorer rollover accident won a $369 million judgment against the Ford Motor Company.

The government said three other popular S.U.V.'s tipped during tests: the Chevrolet Tahoe and the GMC Yukon, both by General Motors, as well as the rear-wheel-drive version of the Mercury Mountaineer, also made by Ford. The extended cab version of a pickup truck made by Toyota, the Tacoma, also tipped up on two wheels. More...

June 8, 2004

Reuters, "Ford likely to hit speed bump with rollover suit"

The $369 million in damages slapped on Ford Motor in an Explorer rollover case by plaintiff Benetta Buell-Wilson last week may expose it to more legal setbacks and highlight the automaker's inability to put one of the worst crises in its 100-year history behind it, experts said. The awards by a California jury are among the largest ever in a single lawsuit against Ford and mark its first loss after 11 victories in rollover cases focusing on the safety of America's best-selling sport utility vehicle. More...

June 4, 2004

Daily Journal, "Rollover Case Yields Punitives of $246 Million"

A San Diego, California jury added $246 million in punitive damages to the $122 million the panel had awarded in compensatory damages to a woman paralyzed by a rollover accident in her Ford Explorer. The plaintiff's lawyers in the case said the verdict against Ford Motor Co. was the first in which a jury decided that poor design of the Explorer caused injuries in rollover crashes. The combined monetary award totaling $368 million is the second-largest verdict against an automaker. More...

June 3, 2004

AFP, "Jury award in Ford Explorer rollover crash tops 350 million dollars"

A San Diego, California jury ordered Ford Motor Company to pay a woman paralyzed in a Ford Explorer SUV crash 246 million dollars in punitive damages after handing the automaker its first courtroom defeat involving its flagship sport utility vehicle.

It marked Ford's first loss in nearly a dozen cases involving SUV accidents that have gone to trial challenging the safety of the nation's best-selling SUV. The company said it would appeal.

Benetta Buell-Wilson, a mother of two, swerved to avoid an object on the road and her 1997 Explorer flipped over, according to testimony. The vehicle's roof caved in, breaking the woman's spinal column.

Plaintiff's lawyers charged that that Ford ignored the advice of engineers and designed the Explorer with safety flaws that make the vehicle prone to roll over.

June 3, 2004

Free Press News Services, "Jury orders Ford to pay $122 million"

A San Diego, California jury ordered Ford Motor Co. to pay at least $122 million to a woman paralyzed in an SUV rollover accident, the first setback in a string of lawsuits involving the Ford Explorer, the nation's best-selling sport-utility vehicle. The final award could be much higher. The award issued late Tuesday covered only compensatory damages. The jury began deliberations Wednesday on punitive damages. Ford said it will appeal. More...

June 2, 2004

The New York Times, "Regulators Question the Stability of Big Vans"

Federal regulators released a report yesterday that raised new questions about the stability of 15-passenger vans and how they are used. The report comes two days after three members of a Bronx church group were killed and nine were injured in the rollover of a large van at the Canadian border.

Regulators also issued their third consumer advisory on large vans in four years yesterday. One of the report's principal findings was that large vans handle similarly to large sport utility vehicles when lightly loaded. But when filled with passengers, or driven above 50 miles an hour, the vehicles become substantially more unstable than S.U.V.'s or pickup trucks. Large vans are five times more likely to roll over when filled than when only the driver is in the vehicle, the report said. More...

June 2, 2004

The Wall Street Journal, "Government Issues New Warning on Vans"

Federal Regulators issued a new safety warning on 15-passenger vans, a popular form of transportation for summer outings.

Yesterday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said that with every seat filled, a 15-seat van is five times as likely to roll over as a van containing just the driver. Federal regulators have raised concerns for years about the safety of 15-seat passenger vans, which are often used by church groups and college sports teams. But the new warning, which comes just as parents are about to pack their kids off to summer camp, shows far greater risks than previous government research suggested.

The latest warning comes just two days after three members of a New York City church group were killed when their van crashed as they were returning from a conference in Toronto. Nine other passengers in the van were injured.

From 1990 to 2002, more than 1,500 15-seat vans were involved in fatal crashes, resulting in the deaths of more than 1,100 people, NHTSA says. Almost 350 of those accidents involved rollovers.

May 31, 2004

New York Daily News, "N.Y. church mourns accident victims"

 A steel coffee mug lodged under the brake pedal of a van carrying a Bronx church group home from Canada, causing the horrific crash that killed three beloved congregants, authorities said Monday night. "It's sticking! It's sticking!" driver Royston Williams screamed as he desperately tried to slam on the brakes of the packed van hurtling toward a Canadian toll plaza barrier Sunday night.

 The van from the Gospel Assembly Church of Jesus Christ slammed into the barrier and flipped on its roof. Then it skidded windshield-first into another metal and steel barrier - killing church deacon Williams and two passengers, authorities said. The van was approaching the Lewiston-Queenston Bridge, which would take the riders from Ontario to New York State on a straight stretch of road with light traffic and clear weather.

May 30, 2004

Palm Beach Post, "Firefighters Pull Woman From Burning Kia Sportage"

Two off-duty firefighters were being touted as heroes Saturday after pulling a trapped woman from a burning vehicle with just seconds to spare. More...

May 25, 2004

Lexington Herald-Leader, "Ford pays $37.5 million in 1995 Kentucky crash"

Ford Motor Co. has paid $37.5 million stemming from the deadly 1995 crash of a 15-passenger van. That is nearly double the original award. The additional amount was created by interest and delayed damage penalties on the $20 million verdict issued by a Scott County jury in 1999.

The Kentucky Supreme Court last month declined to hear an appeal brought by Ford. That decision let stand a 2003 state appeals court ruling that upheld the original verdict. The wreck happened on Interstate 75 in August 1995 as 15 adults and children in a Ford van were headed to the U.S. Pony Clubs festival at the Kentucky Horse Park. A car sideswiped the van near the park, and the van slid off the highway and rolled 31/2 times. Three died in the wreck.

The plaintiffs argued that the van had design flaws that made it prone to rolling over. Ford first successfully appealed the 1999 verdict. In 2001, the appeals court ordered a new trial after agreeing with Ford that plaintiffs were allowed to strike too many jurors during selection. But the state Supreme Court reversed that appellate decision and sent the case back to Despite warnings from the National Highway Transportation Safety Association, 15-passenger vans remain popular with athletics teams and church groups.

May 25, 2004

The San Francisco Chronicle, "Porsche, Volkswagen recall thousands of SUVs over potential rear seat belt fault"

 Porsche is recalling more than 40,000 Cayenne sport utility vehicles worldwide and rival Volkswagen recalled some 60,000 of its Touareg SUVs to check for potential faults in rear seat belts. About 1,000 of the faulty parts were installed in the Cayenne and Touareg vehicles, Volkswagen spokesman Alexander Skibbe said Tuesday. Porsche said its recall affects Cayenne, Cayenne S and Cayenne Turbo models manufactured between Oct. 1, 2002 and Dec. 17, 2003 -- a total of 40,848 vehicles. The worldwide Volkswagen recall affects all Touareg models made in the same period.

May 24, 2004

Broward Daily Business Review, Litigation Review

The estate of a 34-year-old man who was ejected and killed when the SUV he was riding in rolled over, settled its product liability suit for an undisclosed amount.

Scott Bowden was a passenger in a 1999 Chevrolet Tahoe that was traveling along Florida's Turnpike in Osceola County when the tires separated, causing it to roll over and eject Bowden, who died of blunt-force trauma to the head.

His estate alleged that the Tahoe's door latch gave way due to defective design; that the BF Goodrich Long Trail tires that separated were not properly tested by Michelin, which manufactured them; and that Rahal Chevrolet-Buick Inc., which sold and inspected the vehicle, negligently inspected the tires 30 days earlier.

May 5, 2004

The New York Times, "Few SUVs Win Highest U.S. Safety Ratings"

General Motors' sport utility vehicles generally have poor ratings in the government's frontal crash tests but perform well in side-impact crashes, according to results released Wednesday.

The 2004 Chevrolet Trailblazer, Buick Rainier, GMC Envoy, GMC Envoy XUV and Oldsmobile Bravada each earned three out of five stars in the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's frontal crash tests. But they earned five stars on the side-impact tests. Three stars means there is a 21 percent to 35 percent chance of serious injury in a similar real-world crash. NHTSA conducts the front-impact test at 35 mph and the side-impact test at 38.5 mph. More...

May 4, 2004

The New York Times, "In Door Safety Cases, Ford Settles and a Mother Struggles"

Deborah Seliner says she does not remember the accident, just one moment when she was driving her used 1997 Ford pickup along Highway 6 near College Station and the next moment when she was in the dark carrying on a conversation with someone she decided was God. She was begging him, "God, please, if that is you, let me live for my babies." Her truck, she found later, had blown a rear tire, sending her off the road onto a grassy divider. The truck rolled over, ejecting her, even though she had apparently been wearing a seat belt, through the open driver's side door and hurling her 20 yards onto the pavement. More...

May 2, 2004

The Detroit News, "Ford dismissed call to fix latch; Automaker Shuns Its Own Engineers' Report to Recall 4.1 Million Trucks, Suvs"

Ford Motor Co. overruled its own safety engineers' recommendation to recall up to 4.1 million pickups and sport utility vehicles that were found to have substandard door latches, according to internal company documents that have surfaced in recent court cases. A Ford safety engineering team determined in March 2000 that door latches on certain 1997-2000 model light trucks including popular F-150, F-250, Expedition and Lincoln Navigator models didn't meet federal safety standards, the documents show.

Ford ordered immediate design changes for future vehicles. But the automaker decided against a recall which could have cost up to $527 million after the company determined the latches could pass a rarely used alternative compliance test. The decision could haunt Ford, which now faces a slew of product liability lawsuits stemming from fatal accidents where vehicle doors flew open and plaintiffs' lawyers are blaming latch failure.

Federal safety officials, meanwhile, are reviewing allegations that Ford skirted federal laws by failing to recall the 4.1 million vehicles and alert the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration of the latch issue. Ford maintains the door latches are safe and in compliance with federal laws.

April 20, 2004

The Wall Street Journal, "U.S. May Set Criteria For Seat Belts in Rollovers"

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is looking at establishing a performance requirement for seat belts in rollover crashes. Currently there are none.

Mr. Tyson's comments came in response to a new report from Public Citizen charging that seat belts aren't adequately protecting people in rollovers. Some 2,000 belted occupants are dying in rollover crashes a year, with about half of them partially ejected from the vehicle, the report says. The primary benefit of a seat belt in rollovers is to prevent ejection. The report blames poorly designed and performing seat belts.

The Public Citizen report comes as it and other consumer-safety groups are trying to keep pressure on Congress to enact new auto-safety measures as part of the massive highway bill. The Senate version of the bill included numerous safety provisions, such as new standards for roof-crush and seat-belt performance in rollovers. Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen and a former NHTSA administrator, said rollovers should be highly survivable crashes, because the force is spread out over several seconds, compared with the quick smash in, say, a frontal collision. But because of antiquated roof-crush standards and poorly designed seat belts, they have become a particularly lethal type of crash. Rollovers account for 3% of accidents, but one-third of occupant fatalities.

April 19, 2004

The Wall Street Journal, "Study Finds Midsize Cars Are Unsafe if Broadsided by SUVs"

An influential car-safety study released last night shows that passengers in 10 of 13 midsize cars would be seriously injured if broadsided by a sport-utility vehicle. The study, conducted by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, may well alarm consumers: These midsize cars are among the most widely used, and the institute's safety rankings hold significant sway among car buyers.

For the auto industry, the timing of the study couldn't be worse as it is likely to embolden efforts by federal regulators to introduce sweeping new safety standards aimed at decreasing the number of fatalities in side-impact crashes involving SUVs and cars. Only Toyota Motor Co.'s Camry and Honda Motor Co.'s Accord, both with optional side air bags, passed the institute's new side-impact crash test with a "good" rating. An air-bag-equipped Chevrolet Malibu mustered an "acceptable" score. None of the three cars passed when tested without side air bags. Seven other cars also essentially flunked the test, which is more rigorous than the current government side-impact test.

"What it shows is that the mismatch between trucks and SUVs and cars causes severe injuries. We've seen that from the statistics, and now we have a documented new crash test," said Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen, a consumer-advocacy group.

April 11, 2004

The Detroit News, "Thousands killed, hurt as auto roofs collapse"

Penny Shipler remembers the Chevrolet Blazer rolling over and over, then the sound of the roof crashing down over her head. When it finally stopped, she tried to move. "I was thinking get out, I had to get out," she said. "I thought I was getting out." But the Nebraska woman was paralyzed, her spinal cord crushed on impact with the metal roof that caved in around her. More...

April 4, 2004

Arkansas Democrat-Gazette (Little Rock), "Arkansas underdog bites big SUV makers in their bank accounts"

In 1989, a co-worker's grief thrust Tab Turner into an area of trial law that changed his career. An attorney with Friday Eldredge & Clark in Little Rock, Turner was handed the case of Kelly Klemestrud of Memphis, brother of an employee at the law firm. Klemestrud suffered brain damage when his Ford Bronco II rolled over. Turner, 30 years old at the time, refused Ford's initial offer of a $100,000 settlement. More...

March 23, 2004

The Associated Press, "Jury awards Nevadans $52 million in suit over Ford truck brakes"

A federal jury awarded $52 million in damages Friday to the family of a young Nevada boy who was killed nearly 10 years ago when a Ford pickup truck rolled over him because of a defective parking brake.

Ford Motor Co., which said it plans to appeal, earlier had been ordered to pay as much as $150.8 million to Jimmie and Ginnie White of Elko, who said in their civil lawsuit that Ford knew about the parking brake defect but didn't warn consumers. More...

March 4, 2004

The Associated Press, "Jury awards $12.5 million to survivors of family killed in crash"

A jury on Thursday awarded $12.5 million to the family of three people who burned to death when the fuel tank of their Ford F150 pickup truck exploded in flames after a collision. The Jackson County, Missouri jury deliberated for five hours before returning its verdict against Ford Motor Co., which the lawsuit claimed had failed to shield the fuel tank properly, and Pennsylvania trucking company Sher Express. More...

February 9, 2004

CBS News, "Firestone Tires Under Fire Again"

William Robbins survived not one, but two accidents where his Firestone Steeltex tires exploded out of the blue. "Looks like a hand grenade went off inside of it," says Robbins.

A mechanic by trade, Robbins knows a little something about tires. He suspected the Steeltex tires were defective, like Firestone Wilderness and ATX tires recalled in 2000. So he mailed them in to Firestone saying: "It was all I could do to keep my vehicle from rolling over..." Firestone had a quick response. The blowouts "did not result from a defect". The tiremaker insisted Robbins must have hit a "pothole." Both times. More...

February 5, 2004

Associated Press, "New rollover test puts Ford SUV at bottom of list"

 The Ford Explorer Sport Trac got the worst rating among 14 vehicles subjected to a new government safety test designed to predict the likelihood of a rollover during a sharp turn. The federal auto-safety agency, which announced the ratings Wednesday, uses a system in which five stars is the best score and means the likelihood of rollover is less than 10 percent. More...

February 5, 2004

The New York Times, "SUV Ratings Seem to Show Less Chance of a Rollover"

 For the first time, some truck-based sport utility vehicles received as many as four out of five stars in rollover ratings, according to 2004 model ratings released yesterday by federal regulators. But the higher ratings may not necessarily mean the vehicles have become safer, because the government has changed the way it tests them. More...

February 5, 2004

Newsday, '"Real-World' Rollover Tests; In fed check, no SUV gets best rating"

 A Ford Explorer Sport Trac, a small SUV, earned the lowest score among 28 vehicles in the first group to be rated for their rollover propensity using a new track test.

One of two Sport Tracs, the one without four-wheel drive, tipped up on two wheels during the track maneuver, which supplements the mathematical calculations on which rollover ratings had been based since 2001, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. The vehicle, which has a pickup truck- ike open bed, earned two out of a possible five stars based on the track results and mathematical calculations. More...

February 1, 2004

The Detroit News, "Ford Explorer plagued by lawsuits; Majority of cases settled out of court, company says"

The Ford Explorer has been the target of hundreds of product liability lawsuits, but Ford Motor Co. successfully has defended the popular sport utility vehicle in 10 consecutive jury trials. In the past month alone, Ford has prevailed in three Explorer cases seeking millions of dollars in damages. More...

January 29, 2004

The Baltimore Sun, "SUVs not as safe as drivers think"

 SUVs can be seen most anywhere these days, plowing through snowdrifts and gliding with authority over icy roads. But the high-riding, four-wheel drive vehicles haven't made it all that much easier to get around in the ice and snow. Experts say powerful sport utility vehicles have serious stability problems and grip the road no better than cars do but tempt their drivers to take risks. And that makes them just as susceptible - or even more so - to disaster on slippery roads. More...

January 8, 2004

The Detroit News, "U-Haul rejects Explorers; Firm outlaws trailer rentals to owners of popular Ford SUV, citing lawsuits"

 U-Haul International Inc. is forbidding its stores to rent trailers to customers who plan to tow with the Ford Explorer, saying it no longer can afford to defend product liability lawsuits linked to the best-selling SUV. The unusual move by U-Haul comes after the Explorer appeared to have overcome lingering image problems associated with the Firestone tire debacle. More...

January 6, 2004

Bloomberg News, "Ford Settles 2 Accident Lawsuits"

 Ford Motor Co., the world's second-largest automaker, settled two lawsuits claiming that its vehicles had an electronic defect that led to sudden-acceleration accidents. The automaker reached a confidential settlement with a California man, Douglas Pendleton, who claimed that a defect in the electronic system of his Crown Victoria had led to an accident in 1999 that left him paralyzed. Ford settled a separate sudden-acceleration lawsuit in Philadelphia last month after jury selection began. Financial terms were not disclosed.

Ford said the settlements had no implications for similar lawsuits and that it was not responsible for either accident. Another sudden-acceleration case is scheduled to go to trial in Boston this month. The lawsuits claim that a transient electrical charge activates the vehicle's cruise control, causing uncontrollable acceleration, and that the brakes are unable to stop the vehicles. "A settlement does not mean that there was a vehicle defect," company spokeswoman Kathleen Vokes said.