California Roof Crush Lawyer

Roof Crush 

Roof crush occurs in rollover accidents when the roof supports are not strong enough to withstand the combined force and weight of the vehicle, allowing the roof to collapse into the passenger compartment. Serious head, neck and spinal cord injuries are caused by roof crush. It is often said that in the absence of roof crush, rollover accidents are relatively non-violent accidents for seat belted passengers. This is true because the automobile is slowing as it rolls. Whether or not roof crush occurs, can affect the outcome of victims of a rollover accident.

Statistics: Roof Crush Intensifies Injuries

According to the National Highway Transportation Safety Authority ("NHTSA"):

• Roof crush intrusion potentially contributes to serious or fatal injury in 26% of rollover crashes.

• There is roof crush in 80% of all rollover crashes.

• 15% of all injured drivers in vehicle rollovers are injured by roof crush.

• 89% of all roof injured drivers received their most serious injury from the roof.

• Seat belted occupants in rollover crashes usually receive their most severe injury from contact with the roof.

Crashworthiness: A Weak Roof is a Defective Roof

Automobile manufacturers have a legal duty to design and manufacture vehicles to provide for the safety of the occupants in accident involving roof crush. This means that manufacturers must design and build vehicles to prevent foreseeable crash injuries, including roof crush injuries.

Many crashworthiness cases involve roofs that are defectively designed. Very often there is evidence that an automobile manufacturer knew that a roof design was deficient and knew a rollover accident could result in roof crush that would cause death or serious injury. In these cases, the manufacturer's executives typically chose to ignore the advice of its own engineers, in order to save money or start production sooner. In other court cases, there has been evidence that design defects which would lead to roof crush were revealed to automobile manufacturers in their own testing. In these instances, the manufacturers sometimes suppressed these tests and released the vehicle for production despite the manufacturer's knowledge of the unreasonable potential for deadly roof crush.

Less, common, but equally dangerous are crashworthiness cases involving manufacturing defects. In one California case, defective welds, in what appeared otherwise to be an adequate roof, lead to roof crush that resulted in a spinal cord injury to the driver, leaving him with quadriplegia. In this case the roof crush and the driver's injury occurred near the end of the accident, when the car was slowing. As the car made its final impact on the driver's side, the roof pillars collapsed and caused a massive neck injury. The passenger walked away without substantial harm.

Whether the defect that leads to roof crush is in the design or manufacture of the roof, the manufacturer of a car built with a weak roof should be held accountable for roof crush injuries.

Roof Crush Injuries Can Be Severe:

Unfortunately, the injuries most common in a roof crush accident include are among the most severe and life altering. They include:

• Brain damage

• Spinal cord injury, including quadriplegia and paraplegia

• Injuries to the neck and back

The Government Is Not Looking Out For You...

The NHTSA has taken the position; despite abundant evidence to the contrary, that roof crush is not a substantial cause of injury and fatality. After much study and comment, the NHTSA has promulgated a new roof crush standard that is set to take effect by 2009.

The existing government standard for testing roof crush resistance requires a static test consisting of a metal plate pushing down at an angle on a roof. The driver's side of the roof is required to withstand 1.5 times the vehicles weight. The rule only applies to vehicles weighing less than 6,000 pounds. The NHTSA's proposed new roof crush rule uses the same static test, but is now the roof to withstand 2.5 times the weight of the vehicle and vehicles up to 10,000 pounds are included. The NHTSA is considering requiring both sides of the roof to be tested. Nonetheless, it claims that only about 44 lives per year would be saved under the proposed new roof crush standard.

A 2008 study by the Insurance Institute of Highway Safety ("IIHS") found that strong roofs reduce the risk significantly of fatal and incapacitating injury in rollover crashes. In a comprehensive study, the IIHS demonstrated that stronger roofs save lives by eliminating or minimizing roof crush. IIHS reviewed more than 22,000 SUV rollover accidents from 1997-2005, and found that if all SUV's had a roof as strong as the strongest in the study, roof crush deaths would be reduced by 39%-56%. It is likely that over 200 lives would have been saved in 2006 alone. The strongest roof was on the 2000-2004 Nissan Xterra (which held 2.9 times its weight). The 1999-2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee had the weakest roof, followed by the 1996-2004 Chevrolet Blazer and the 1996-2001 Ford Explorer.

Consumer advocacy groups, such as Consumers Union and Public Citizen, also forcefully disagree with the NHTSA's conclusion and have pushed for even stronger roof crush standards. They argue that many vehicle components may not perform as designed when the roof crushes. For example, windows may shatter and airbags and seat belts may fail. Passenger ejections that might not have otherwise occurred may happen in a roof crush accident.

The cost of improving the roof crush resistance of a vehicle is minimal. According to a New York Times article on December 6, 2005, NHTSA's proposed upgraded standards would cost just over $10 per car. Other estimates vary, but most are under $50. In a recent California roof crush case brought after the seat belted victim was rendered quadriplegic when the roof of her Ford Explorer intruded ten inches into the passenger compartment, the victim presented evidence which showed that Ford could have made the roof more crush resistant with modifications which would have cost about $20 per vehicle.

The government's present single sided static roof crush test also has raised much criticism. Research suggests that the occupant on the side of the vehicle that strikes the ground second as the vehicle rolls is often more seriously injured because the angle at which the vehicle strikes the ground is sharper. In response to this criticism, the NHTSA has conducted 26 two sided tests and concluded that almost all light trucks and 67% of cars would fail a two sided test. Armed with this vital information on roof crush potential, instead of requiring a two sided test, the NHTSA posed the question for public and automobile manufactures to comment: Is it economically worth it to require a two sided test?

It seems obvious that the government's static test does not come close to replicating the true dynamics of roof crush in a vehicle rollover. An innovative dynamic rollover test, which mirrors real-world crashes has been created and should be the standard for manufacturers in testing their vehicles. In this test, the vehicle is placed on an axis that allows it to rotate while striking the moving pavement beneath it. This test allows two sequential roof to ground contacts. It is a repeatable test. This test has proven that roof crush can be minimized with stronger roofs. The Volvo XC90, a vehicle manufactured by the Ford Motor Company performed well compared to other vehicles with weaker roofs. For years, Ford has suppressed the technical information behind the success of the Volvo in preventing roof crush injuries. The dynamic rollover tests demonstrated that the Volvo occupants would escape serious injury, but the Ford Explorer occupants would not. The tests have shown that vehicles with poor roof crush resistance can be easily and inexpensively modified to provide at least minimal roof crush resistance.

The bottom line is that the NHTSA has created roof crush standards that are far below the level needed to protect us. It mandates a test that does not replicate the dynamics of roof crush in rollovers and it has failed to require that manufacturers test for roof strength on both sides of a vehicle. Sadly, the new rule also includes language that would bar victims of roof crush from bringing tort based lawsuits against automakers, even when auto manufacturers are grossly negligent, as long as they have complied with the new weak federal standard.

Experience Counts in Choosing an Accident Attorney

In roof crush cases, you should take care to choose an experienced accident attorney, who can navigate the federal standards and understands the implications of the different types of roof crush testing conducted by manufacturers. A common defense is that the manufacturer complied with federal standards. However, those standards are so minimal with regard to roof crush that this defense should be defeated.

Your accident attorney should have experience litigating with automobile manufacturers. Roof crush cases are and will continue to be hotly contested by manufacturers. These cases are difficult and require a well funded and skilled accident attorney with experience in handling roof crush cases. Manufacturers and their experts will argue that the injuries you suffered in a roof crush accident were caused by factors other than the roof's intrusion into the passenger compartment, such as high speed or the severity of the impact. An experienced roof crush attorney may utilize expert witnesses to demonstrate the mechanics of your accident, including how roof crush caused or enhanced your injuries.

It is important to know that even if you were ejected in a rollover accident involving roof crush, the underlying cause may have been the roof crush. The collapse of the roof can cause seat belts and air bags to malfunction and windows to shatter. Even a seat belted occupant can be ejected. An experienced accident attorney may be able to demonstrate in court that your ejection was caused by the roof crush rather than not being seat belted.

Contact an Experienced Attorney Immediately Following a Roof Crush Accident

You should act quickly following a roof crush accident if you or a loved one had been seriously injured. An experienced accident attorney can help you get the immediate medical care you need and deal with the insurance companies, which in roof crush cases are not your friends.

Investigations in roof crush cases should begin immediately and preferably before the automobile is moved. The undisturbed scene of the accident can provide critical details that will help your attorney and retained experts reconstruct the accident and prove the cause of your injuries.

Damages in Roof Crush Cases

If you have suffered injuries in a roof crush accident, you may be entitled to a monetary recovery to compensate you for your lost wages, medical bills, pain and suffering, diminished capacity to earn a living in the future, diminished quality of life, and potentially punitive damages.

For immediate assistance, contact the attorneys at The Reeves Law Group at 1-800-644-8000 or email us.