When you are informed that a friend, a family member or a loved one has been involved in a single vehicle rollover and has sustained serious injuries you should know that many defects may be present in the vehicle making the manufacturer responsible for the death or injuries caused by the rollover.

The following are some types of defects to look for:

Tire defects

New tires may be defective in their design and may blow out or cause a rollover of your vehicle due to the defect.

Roof defects

Vehicles should be designed to have a reasonable ability to withstand a crash without collapsing or caving in.

Seatbelt defects

Sometimes the passengers in a vehicle are ejected and an assumption is made by the investigating officer that the passenger was not wearing a seat belt; however, defects in the seatbelt may have malfunctioned and may not have restrained the passenger allowing the passenger to be ejected from the vehicle.

Vehicle design

Some vehicles are defectively designed because the high centers of gravity and narrow track width can make them prone to tipping and flipping over.

Defective airbags

Defective airbags in automobiles can turn a simple automobile accident into a fatal automobile collision, deadly car wreck, or catastrophic injury crash. In designing Automobiles, manufacturers know that it is important to design vehicles with safety features that protect occupants. Failure to design safe vehicles that are crashworthy, can result in a vehicle collision that injures or kills.

Crashworthiness is an important factor in many vehicle rollover cases. No matter what caused the car crash to happen, the vehicle should protect its occupants to a reasonable degree during the crash. This is called crashworthiness. It is an accepted principle that vehicle manufacturers should design cars, SUVs, trucks and vans to protect the occupants against unreasonable injury; this does not mean, however, that manufacturers have to protect occupants against every injury in every situation.

Rick knows the importance of preserving the vehicle to determine if there is a claim against the manufacturer. Some times the insurance adjuster will promptly settle the property damage claim and purchase the vehicle and send the totaled vehicle to a salvage yard who will crush the vehicle and dispose of it as junk.

It is important to contact an experienced attorney immediately after a single vehicle rollover to find out whether you have a legal claim against an auto manufacturer.

Call Rick DeHoyos at 325-658-8000 to make sure you get the proper guidance and help in processing your claim.