Detroit News — Ford has consistently sought in Court to keep the public from learning about its knowledge of the inadequacies of its roof designs for its SUV and truck products. It has been alleged in numerous lawsuits that Ford's roof design allows an unacceptable roof crush when a Ford SUV or truck rollover can cause significant injury or death.
Most recently, it was learned that Ford engineers knew through testing by its wholly owned subsidiary, Volvo, that it's roof crush on caused during SUV rollovers, including Explorer rollovers and truck rollovers could be substantially cured by an adequate roof design. Volvo, a worldwide leader in vehicle safety, had its engineers test various vehicles while designing its own SUV known as the "XC90." Volvo's initial testing of the XC90's roof revealed that using a standard roof strength design (such as that in the Ford Explorer) resulted in severe head trauma to crash test dummies during a rollover due to the roof crush/roof collapse. This testing was performed in August of 1999.
After adjustments were made to the roof design, the windshield, the sunroof and the seatbelt, a similar crash test was performed. In this crash test, the dummy survived with minor injuries compared with the previous severe head trauma. This test was performed in September of 2000. Despite this knowledge, Ford has consistently failed to improve its roof strength in its SUV and truck vehicles to protect occupants during SUV rollovers, including Ford Explorer rollovers.
According to various press reports, documents that Ford has attempted to seal from public disclosure revealed that Ford has consistently redesigned the Explorer roof to make it weaker. In 1995 and 1999, the Ford Explorer was redesigned on multiple occasions, making it more susceptible to roof crush on each occasion. This means that during a Ford Explorer rollover, there may be roof collapse or roof crush into the occupant, causing death, severe brain injury, quadriplegia or paraplegia.
These documents were recently used in a Florida case against Ford. The Florida case involved a Ford Explorer rollover. During the rollover, the Ford Explorer's roof design was allegedly inadequate, allowing roof crush and roof collapse which caused severe head injuries to an occupant. Following the trial on the Ford Explorer's rollover and roof crush, Ford attempted to seal the record and prevent the disclosure of these damaging documents to the public.
If you believe that you have been injured in a rollover or roof collapse related accident, contact Miller Weisbrod, LLP, for a free case assessment.
