According to the Center for Auto Safety, rollover crashes kill one of every four people who die in auto accidents. Rollovers tend to happen when a vehicle runs off the road and turns over at least on its side. Seventeen of 20 rollovers occur with SUVs vs. other makes. The Ford Explorer has the greatest chance of roll over, greater than any other SUV.Being in a car accident can be a horrible experience. While your SUV can be fixed or towed away, human lives are irreplaceable. SUVs cost a lot of money and as a consumer and a driver you naturally expect your mode of transportation to be reliable and safe. You choose SUVs based on your lifestyle, affordability, and brand awareness. As more and more people choose to drive a SUV, more people die from SUV crashes and rollovers.
As the driver, you take the safety precautions of wearing seat belts and putting your children and infants into safety booster seats and car seats. You follow proper maintenance schedules and keep your tires rotated. You do all the right things but sometimes bad things happen to people who drive SUVs.
How crashworthy is your SUV? Crashworthiness is the difference between life and death, safety, and severe injury. You may have a lawsuit if your car was not crashworthy. SUVs have a tendency to roll over more frequently than other vehicles during accident collisions and even during normal turning. This happens because a SUV has a significantly higher center of gravity, thus subjecting the car to "tipping over" because it is top-heavy.
Since the typical SUV is usually taller than a passenger car, but has a similar width of wheelbase, it becomes top-heavy. As a result of being top-heavy, any sudden maneuver or even an average speed tight turn that would not pose a risk in a sedan poses a great risk for a SUV rollover.
What's worse is that this heavier vehicle has a lighter roof which provides even less crash protection when the SUV rolls over and over as they appear to do in typical SUV accidents. People riding in SUVs have a higher risk of death or paralysis when a SUV rollover accident occurs.
Pennsylvania has a high occurrence of SUV accidents. If you or a loved one has been in a SUV rollover accident, it's advisable that you contact a SUV rollover accident law firm with a track record in large settlements.
