A jury in San Diego has just awarded $14.4 million to the children of a couple who were killed in an automobile accident linked to a tire blowout of a vehicle involved in the horrific accident. Our San Diego car accident lawyer explains more below.
Ford E350 Sportsmobile Accident
The accident happened in July 2006; Mr. Casey Barber and his wife were driving on Highway 98 in Arizona when their Ford E350 Sportsmobile van lost control and flipped over, causing injuries. Unfortunately, both husband and wife were killed in this terrible accident.
The auto accident was later traced to tire tread separation (defective tire) of the right tire of the van they were driving. Their children were just eight, three, and five years old at the time, and they now live with their aunt and a husband.
Per the attorneys for the victims, the San Diego car dealership Mossy Ford failed to fix the tire properly and adequately in 2005, and evidence was supplied at trial to support this contention. The Mossy Ford dealership should have put the tire off service and not on the vehicle, but they regrettably failed to do so.
The company has also reached a post-verdict settlement with the plaintiff’s attorneys under which Mossy will immediately begin to follow industry guidelines for tire repair so this tragic accident does not have to happen again in the future. The company will also implement a technician training program to improve safety and review procedures on vehicle tires without delay.
Rollover Accidents
Sadly, vehicle tire blowout or explosion is one of the leading causes of rollover accidents in the United States, and some of them are preventable. These horrific and surprising accidents are some of the most devastating and can result in serious injuries or death due to the bio-mechanics occupants can feel in a rollover-type vehicle accident.
Rollover accidents account for just a small percentage of the total number of auto crashes that occur in the country every year, but make up a substantial percentage of the total number of auto accident death/fatalities every year; another reason tire safety is so crucial and needed on every vehicle that has any remote symptoms of tire failure.
The tires are the foundations of a motor vehicle, much like a house has a foundation below it. Without a proper base, it will fail and cause potential injuries, often severe enough to kill. Approximately 3% of all accidents in the country every year are rollover accidents, but these fatalities account for about 30% of all auto accident fatalities every year, which is an alarming statistic.
