Families Sue Ford Over Rollover
May 10, 2001
The families of two men killed in a Ford Explorer rollover on a Texas highway got their day in court on Tuesday. The families accused Ford of designing the Explorer in an "unreasonably unsafe and imminently dangerous [manner]." Ford cites driver negligence as the primary cause of the auto accident and denies that the design of the Explorer is to blame.
One of the attorneys for the families said that Ford has known of the Ford Explorer's dangerous propensity to rollover since the late 1980s but has until recently failed to act. According to the attorney, in 1989 Ford engineers informed company executives that the Explorer should be widened to prevent rollovers.
The two men killed when their 1995 Ford Explorer flipped three to four times when it swerved to avoid a collision with another vehicle. The families say that Ford not only refused to widen the Explorer, but also failed to lower the vehicle as recommended by engineers. Both design changes would have made the Explorer more stable and less likely to rollover.
To Ford's credit, the company has redesigned the 2002 Ford Explorer by widening the vehicle and including other safety features. However, four million people continue to drive Ford Explorer models built between 1995 and 2001. Ford also continues to fight other related legal battles over Explorers and recalled Firestone tires.
-- Article Courtesy of InjuryBoard.com
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