SPOKANE, Washington — A single-vehicle rollover collision occurred 8 miles north of Spokane at the intersection of SR-395 and Half Moon.
The incident involved a 2002 Ford Explorer UT traveling northbound on SR-395. As the vehicle attempted to merge to the right, it veered onto the shoulder, leading to an overcorrection and loss of control. The vehicle somersaulted multiple times before stopping in the northbound lanes of SR-395.
The driver was transported to the hospital for necessary treatment with serious injuries.
The driver was properly restrained by a seatbelt during the incident.
Rollover Accident Involving SUVs Needs Further Investigation to Determine if Injuries Caused by a Defective
It’s a little past 7:00 p.m. You are driving home after a long day at work, tired and hungry. You start to accelerate past the other cars, eager to greet your house, when you take that turn too fast. Before you know it, you no longer have control over your Ford Explorer. Your SUV is flipping around, somersaulting, before coming to a sudden thud. You just had a rollover accident. And your roof has crushed you in.
Rollover accidents can happen to any of us. It only takes a second of driver error to lose control of your vehicle. Even so, rollover accidents are rare: they account for less than 3 percent of vehicle accidents; however, they are responsible for 20 percent of fatalities in car crashes (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration). These types of accidents are deadly. Because these types of accidents are so dangerous and misunderstood, it is crucial to understand and investigate all possible causes and contributing factors that caused the accident and the injury.
Most of us know that rollover accidents are often the driver’s fault. Speeding, not paying attention to the road, falling asleep at the wheel, and even swerving to avoid hitting an animal. But did you know that the car is at fault many times in rollover accidents as well? SUVs are notorious for their rollover risk. In fact, the chances of serious injuries in a rollover are increased by over 36% when it involves an SUV (National Highway Traffic Safety Administration).
The law is concerned with the causes of our injuries as much as the cause of the accident. And many SUVs, especially Fords, have been known to have design flaws where the roof crushes in or collapses during a rollover. This is completely unacceptable.
Vehicle roofs should not collapse. Safety Belts should not fail to restrain. When this happens, and a person suffers severe injuries or death, the vehicle manufacturer needs to be held accountable.
Our law firm has handled hundreds of cases where motorists are killed or injured when the roof collapses, crushing the motorist or their passengers. When manufacturers fail the driving public by putting out a product that has the potential to cause more harm to them than another car, they need to be held accountable for their actions.
The accident with the 2002 Ford Explorer needs further investigation by trained professionals to see if the vehicle was defective, and if it was, the manufacturer needs to be held accountable. This woman will have hospital bills, loss of income, and setbacks that she deserves to be compensated for. If the manufacturer is also to blame for the injuries caused in this accident, it must be held responsible.
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The Ammons Law Firm represents clients nationwide in catastrophic injury and wrongful death litigation, with extensive experience in complex auto/tire defect and commercial vehicle cases.
Disclaimer: This post is not legal advice. Information contained in this blog was compiled from third-party sources or is the opinion of the author. Please inform us immediately if false or misleading information is contained in this post.
