Ford Pays In F150 Wrongful Death Case

The wife, sons and mother of a 55-year-old Montana man whose 2004 Ford F150 pickup, pulling a trailer, rolled over recovered against Ford Motor Company.

As the man and his wife were traveling to visit family, extremely strong wind gusts caused the trailer pulled by the F150 pickup to sway from side to side. The man attempted to bring the vehicle under control, but it traveled into the median and overturned. As the vehicle came to rest on its right side, the man was suspended nearly sideways in his seat belt inside the cab. He had distinct blunt force trauma to the right side of his head and was bleeding profusely. A State Border Patrol Agent who was first on the scene cut the man’s seat belt because it was suffocating him.

According to Ammons, a fatal head injury was inflicted as the man interacted with the ground and window trim of the pickup during the rollover. Ammons claimed the pickup was defective in two respects. First, the seat belts did not utilize roll-activated pretensioners, so they failed to lock and keep the man coupled to his seat as the vehicle rolled. Second, the pickup’s lack of a roll-activated side curtain airbag allowed the man’s head to move outside of the occupant compartment. Both defects resulted in the head injury that caused the man’s death.

The man’s survivors sought wrongful death damages, and all were compensated. Ford insisted the amount of the settlement remain confidential.

Rob Ammons is Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law by the Texas Board of Legal Specialization, in addition to being Board Certified in Civil Law by the National Board of Trial Advocacy. Rob Ammons’ law practice, The Ammons Law Firm, is located in Houston, Texas.

The Ammons Law Firm’s practice is exclusively personal injury law, handling such cases as: tire defects, oil rig explosions, truck accidents, plant explosions, refinery accidents, wrongful death, post-collision fires, seat belt defects, airbag defects, SUV rollovers and workplace negligence.