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When a person suffers a crush injury in an automobile accident, it is often the result of impact with a roof that was unable to sustain the impact of the collision. Crush injury cases are most common in vehicle rollover accidents or any accident which compromises the integrity of the automobile's roof structure. Each year in the United States there are approximately 250,000 rollover crashes, a high percentage of which involve sports utility vehicles or SUVs.
Roof crush injuries claim the lives of ten thousand people each year on our nation's roadways. These fatal crush injury cases are most often the result of poor or insufficient roof strength. When a roof is unable to withstand impact and related damages in an accident, it can compromise passenger survival space inside a vehicle. In addition to leaving little space inside the vehicle for passengers, roof crush also can open up portals through which crush injury victims can be ejected from the vehicle during an accident. Crush injury statistics show that at least half of all people who have lost their lives after being ejected from a vehicle first suffer a significant roof crush injury.
SUVs have a greater propensity to rollover in accidents due to their narrow structure and elevated center of gravity compared to other passenger cars. The combination of this instability on the road and inadequate roof strength make SUV rollover crashes much more likely to cause roof crush injury to drivers or passengers. In 2003 alone, approximately 4,500 people lost their lives in an SUV rollover accident. Many of these fatalities were caused, or contributed to, by roof crush injury.
The federal government has passed vehicle safety standards in an attempt to decrease the likelihood of crush injury in vehicle accidents. Federal regulations require that vehicles pass roof strength tests to ensure roof integrity and mitigate the risks of crush injury cases. These regulations apply to all vehicles weighing less than six thousand pounds. SUVs, those most highly associated with roof crush injury, are often exempt from compliance with this federal regulation because they often exceed the six thousand pound weight provision. In this way, federal regulations fail to ensure roof strength in the most dangerous vehicles associated with roof crush injury cases.
Despite federal safety standards, many vehicle's roofs will crush a foot or more during a rollover accident, greatly increasing the risks that a person inside will sustain a serious crush injury. Roof crush injury is regarded by automobile experts as a highly preventable injury providing that automakers build roofs that can withstand impact during an accident. Windshield reinforcement is a crucial element to the strength of a roof structure, supplying one-third of the support necessary to ensure a roof's strength.
Automakers that choose to create roof and windshield structures that are unable to withstand impact can be held liable for any roof crush injury or fatality that results in subsequent vehicle accidents.
If you are interested in learning more about crush injury cases, contact a qualified attorney by choosing your state above who can advise you of your legal rights and options.
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