Why Does a Vehicle Roll Over?
By: Kevin Stouwie
Board Certified in Personal Injury Trial Law
Texas Board of Legal Specialization
A ” rollover” can be, without a doubt, one of the most tragic types of car accidents one could ever imagine. The consequences of such accidents can include death, brain damage, and permanent partial or total paralysis. I have personally represented a 17 year old girl from the Texas Hill Country who was paralyzed from the neck down in such an accident. I will never, ever forget sitting by her bed and trying to keep my composure and hold back my own tears as she bravely tried to tell me everything that happened in the minutes before, during, and after the rollover accident that turned her life into a permanent struggle to make it through each and every day. What surprises many people is that so many of these devastating tragedies could have, and should have, been easily avoided during the automobile design and manufacturing process.
The failure, or “crush” of the roof of a car, truck, or SUV is the most likely vehicle design defect to cause death or permanent injury. The roof is widely known to be the least crashworthy part of almost every vehicle manufactured. In fact, roofs are so poorly designed and made that, when test dropped by engineers with the vehicle upside-down, and from a distance of just 12 inches from a hard flat surface, the result is total crush in many vehicles, This crush is what can cause death, or catastrophic injury to the car occupants.
Most rollovers occur due to “tripping”. Tripping refers to something that will occur at the point where the tires of the vehicle are positioned perpendicular, or nearly perpendicular, to the direction the vehicle’s momentum is carrying it. The lead side of the vehicle will “trip”, and the tires on the trailing side of the vehicle will come off the ground. If there is sufficient momentum when the tripping occurs, the vehicle will go into a roll. SUVs, because of design and inherent vehicle instability, will “trip” far more often than vehicles that have a lower center of gravity, such as a sports sedan. The roll that occurs following the “trip” causes the vehicle to be airborne temporarily, and then land on its roof. If there is enough momentum, a second, third, or even fourth roll may occur. This discussion of roof crush explains why the passengers in SUV’s are twice as likely to be killed in a rollover than those in a standard vehicle.
Every rollover death or serious injury occurs while a vehicle is in motion, usually at speeds greater than 20 miles per hour. Unfortunately, the federal government has chosen to ignore this reality for over 30 years. Government vehicle safety standards and regulations are those that the automobile manufactures and sellers in the U.S. must follow. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 216, issued by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration [NHTSA] in 1973, mandates a “standing” test (in other words, a NON-MOVING test). Officially called a “static” test, this “safety” rule has been in place since the 1974 model year.
The standard provides that “a force of one and half times the empty weight of the vehicle or 5,000 pounds, whichever is less, be slowly loaded onto the roof over the A pillar, the front roof support that holds the windshield in place. Weight is added to a steel plate approximately 3 feet wide and six feet long that is placed at an angle over the roof line. A roof passes, under this absurd test, even if it collapses five inches. Next time you are driving a car, see if the top of your head is less than 5 inches from the inside of the roof of the car.
Technology and engineering have come a long way since the late 60′s and early 1970′s. However, the worldwide automobile manufacturing industry has vigorously opposed the strengthening of the roof crush standards under U.S. law.
Lawyers who represent catastrophically injured and killed occupants of vehicles whose roofs unnecessarily crushed have a hard time understanding why change has come so slowly. However, with increased safety awareness, crashworthiness studies, extensive testing of seat belt restraint systems, headrests, and gas tank safety, safety engineers have worked to protect the integrity of the passenger compartment in the event of a crash or rollover accident. These efforts have been extremely helpful, but there is still plenty of work that can be done.
Even though is well known that roofs are ridiculously soft, and that even belted passengers are at great risk for serious injury in a rollover, and the greater the roof crush the more severe the injury, the government has never mandated a dynamic, or moving roof crush test. Even U. S. Government safety consultants have reported that a “roof has to be strong enough to resist severe compression when the car rolls over.” Kahane, An Evaluation of Door Locks and Roof Crush Resistance of Passenger Cars, NHTSA DOT HS 807 849 (1989). Materials perform differently when subjected to dynamic forces found in a real world collision. But the government’s static test standard ignores this longstanding and well-known engineering fact. I would humbly suggest that the reason the law has not changed is due to the massive lobbying efforts of the auto industry over the past 35 years.
Because making roofs stronger increases the weight of vehicles, and may decrease the number of “miles per gallon” and/or increases vehicle cost, automakers have largely refused to strengthen roofs. Instead, manufacturers defend roof crush/failure claims by arguing that driver error, high speeds and other factors are responsible for deaths and injuries, not the crummy roof design.
This convenient, and well worn set of arguments plays well to some jurors, especially those who already are predisposed to dislike or distrust injured plaintiffs and their families. The simple argument that “speed kills” is tempting to believe. However, the truth is that the rate of deceleration is the controlling factor in causing injury or death. In other words, it is not how fast the car was traveling, but rather, how quickly a person’s body is subjected to a decelerating force that really matters. A crushing roof impacting on the top of one’s head will almost always cause a compression force on the spine that is sufficient to kill, or cause a fracture of the spine that damages or severs the spinal cord. These injuries are horrible, and are permanent.
Experts have testified that strengthening roof supports would only add 40-70 pounds to the weight of a vehicle and would only cost approximately $250. This simple change could prevent 5,000 deaths and 5,000 spinal cord injuries every year. Unfortunately, only a few manufacturers have taken these simple steps to save lives and avoid these terrible tragedies.
Car manufacturers also love to claim that death, brain damage and spinal cord injuries are caused before the roof collapsed into the passenger’s headroom and that the victim was thrown into the roof by centrifugal force before the vehicle landed on its roof. If the seatbelt is properly fastened and worn at the time of the rollover, this argument is greatly diminished. The car makers still use the argument, because some jurors will look for a way to let the car maker of the hook and send the injury victim home injured AND penniless. Only a handful of car makers, such as Volvo and Saab, freely admit that passengers should be protected by a safety “cage” that preserves a safe passenger zone.
SUV rollover cases have increased as SUV sales have increased over the past 15-20 years. Despite widespread knowledge that SUVs are inherently unsafe, the car industry has been slow to take note.
All four wheel drive vehicles are designed for off road travel and, by definition, are expected to roll. All could provide roll bar protection for all passengers by making the A and C pillars roll bars extending across the roof of the vehicle, thereby insuring that in a roll the roof would not crush down. This simple change would save more lives than were lost in the 9/11 tragedy.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR: Kevin Stouwie
Mr. Stouwie, has dedicated his professional life to helping people. His law firm, Stouwie & Mayo, is a premier San Antonio area Personal Injury law firm dedicated to helping people who have suffered injury or death caused by others. The firm’s clients come primarily from the San Antonio area and surrounding counties. However, the firm does handle select cases throughout the state of Texas. Clients of the firm have recovered monetary compensation in thousands of cases over the years. Mr. Stouwie and his partner, Chris Mayo, have just one mission in their law firm; fight hard for the rights of every single client, and then get the client the best result possible. The firm successfully handles a wide variety of case types from small automobile accidents to wrongful death cases. Mr. Stouwie prides himself in being approachable and personally attentive to all clients..
This article is for informational purposes only. It is not intended to provide legal advice, as individual situations will differ and should be discussed with an expert and/or lawyer. For specific technical or legal advice on the information provided and related topics, please contact the author.