Expedition Rollover Paralyzes California Man, Prompts Lawsuit Against Ford

On behalf of a 59-year-old quadriplegic man and his wife, suit has been filed against Ford Motor Company due to an Expedition rollover. Defects in a Ford vehicle are cited as the reason the man suffered the spinal cord injury that has left him paralyzed.

The man was the belted driver of a 2004 Ford Expedition traveling on a California roadway when a sedan began swerving through traffic, contacting the Expedition and causing it to hit the roadway’s center divider and rollover. The sedan left the scene. Responders found the man trapped in the overturned Expedition. After a lengthy extrication that required the front of the roof to be cut off the vehicle, the man was transported to the hospital where he was found to have sustained a catastrophic spinal cord injury rendering him permanently quadriplegic.

The lawsuit claims the Expedition is defective because it is not crashworthy. Specifically, it is alleged that the seat belt restraints, the lack of a roll-activated side curtain airbag, and the use of tempered glass in the vehicle’s side window which shattered and vacated the window frame allowed the man’s head to get outside the Expedition as it rolled over, resulting in the spinal cord injury. It is further alleged that Ford failed to properly test the Expedition line of vehicles and that, had such testing been done, the defective nature of the SUV’s rollover protection system would have been discovered prior to it being manufactured for sale.

Included as a defendant in the lawsuit is Discount Tire alleged to have been negligent in installing mismatched tires on the Expedition, thereby degrading the vehicle’s handling capabilities and contributing to the loss of control over the vehicle which led to the rollover.

The Ammons Law Firm handles cases nationwide, including those involving tire defects, oil rig explosions, truck accidents, plant explosions, refinery accidents, wrongful death, post-collision fires, seat belt defects, seatback defects, airbag defects, SUV rollovers, and workplace negligence.