South Florida Injury Lawyers Blog
A Fort Lauderdale woman and her two children were injured in a SUV rollover accident when a tire on her SUV separated, causing her car to flip several times earlier this week, according to The St. Augustine Record. The Florida Highway Patrol reported that she was heading northbound on Interstate 95 when one of the right tires separated causing her Ford Explorer to overturn.
Sport utility vehicles have the highest rate of deaths occurring in rollovers. Vehicles including the Ford Explorer, Toyota 4 Runner, Isuzu Rodeo and Honda Passport have all been popular cars that have seen their fair share of SUV rollover accidents in Miami and elsewhere. SUV rollovers are almost three times more likely to occur than the average passenger car, according to SUV Rollover News.
Our West Palm Beach car accident attorneys would like to point out that, from the beginning of the Firestone tire recall, Ford Motor Co. officials have continued to insist that these accidents with Ford Explorers are, in fact, a Firestone tire problem. No one wants to fess up to the faulty manufacturing.
“There are more than 3 million Goodyear tires on Ford Explorers that have not had, as far as we know, one tread separation problem,” Ford President Jacques Nasser told Congress. “So we know that this is a Firestone tire issue, not a vehicle issue.”
The Fort Lauderdale mother and one of her daughters were not wearing seat belts at the time of the accident. The child was ejected from the SUV. The older child, 8-months-old, was restrained by a child seat in the back seat.
According to Frontline:
-In the 10-year period during which Ford-Firestone related rollovers caused some 300 deaths, more than 12,000 people were killed in SUV rollover accidents unrelated to tire failure.
-The Ford Explorer is nearly 20 times as likely as the typical family car to kill occupants of another vehicle in a crash.
-A quarter of all vehicles sold in the United States are sport utility vehicles. SUVs are the most popular type of vehicle in America. The Ford Explorer is the most popular SUV in the world.
Ford Explorers that are equipped with Goodyear Tires have had a higher rate of tire-related accidents than any other SUVs, according to national fatal accident records.
“I’m not going to say there’s anything wrong with Explorers,” said James C. Whiteley, Goodyear’s vice president for global product and process quality. “Explorers are Explorers. Jeeps are Jeeps. Our performance on all the vehicles has been very satisfactory. People have taken tires for granted. Tires are a highly engineered technical masterpiece, but people have to realize that tires fail. If you don’t take care of a tire, we cannot make a tire that is indestructible.”
The car accident lawyers at Freeman, Mallard, Sharp & Gonzalez, LLC represent victims and their families in Margate, Miami, West Palm Beach, Port St. Lucie and Fort Lauderdale. If you or a loved one has been injured in a car accident, call 1-800-561-7777 today for a free consultation to discuss your rights.
More Blog Entries:
New Consumer Report Flags Tire Pressure as Cause of Car Accidents in West Palm and Elsewhere, South Florida Injury Lawyers Blog, June 9, 2011
Get Vehicle Recall Information to Decrease Your Risks of a Serious Car Accident in Fort Lauderdale and Elsewhere, South Florida Injury Lawyers Blog, June 15, 2011