Roof Crush

From the founding of our firm in 1988, we have been on the cutting edge of automobile defect product liability litigation. We have represented many clients in personal injury and wrongful death actions involving death and paralysis as a result of a car's roof collapsing on them in rollover wrecks occurring at relatively low speeds.

The great tragedy in these cases is that the roofs were not designed to withstand those forces encountered in these foreseeable rollover wrecks. The pillars of the roofs often contained holes to lighten the weight of the vehicle while sacrificing the strength that comes with a closed pillar design.

The auto industry has defended its roof designs with a thirty year old minimum standard known as federal motor vehicle safety standard 216. The agency which adopted 216 has itself questioned whether the thirty year old minimum standard has anything to do with the forces experienced by a roof in real world rollover wrecks. The automakers also frequently defend these cases relying on studies conducted by paid testifying consultants at General Motors who did rollover tests in hopes of establishing that belted occupants of vehicles receive their injuries from "diving" into the roofs of their vehicles. Analysis of these tests proves the belts of the crash test dummies were loosened in the tests and roof crush preceded the most serious impacts to the necks of the crash test dummies.

Every car accident is different. The victim's injuries may have been caused by driver negligence, but may have been compounded by a roof defect. If your car accident involved a crushed roof, there is a real possibility that there was a roof defect. Automobile Defect Cases make up a significant portion of our practice and we have achieved significant success at trial and during litigation.

If you or family members have suffered injuries as the result of a crushed roof, you need an experienced automobile defect lawyer to maximize your recovery. Contact us today.