Jacksonville 15 Passenger Van Accident Attorneys
The stories are so horrible because they involve the most innocent among us - a six-year-old on his way to swim class, a 12-year-old girl on a church outing, high school students on their way to visit the Grand Canyon. They were all riding in 15-passenger vans, called the most dangerous and defective vehicle on the road today because it tips more than any other vehicle. According to the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), 81% of all 15-passenger van fatalities occur in single vehicle rollovers.
Consider the statistics:
- Fifteen-passenger vans were involved in 376 fatal rollover crashes between 1982 to 1999.
- The majority of those crashes (260) did not involve another vehicle, meaning the van overturned even if it didn’t collide with another vehicle.
- Seatbelts are no guarantee of safety in a 15-passenger van. Thirty-nine of the 159 of those seriously injured and 39 killed were wearing a seat belt or in a child seat.
- Of the 2,513 occupants of those rollovers, 432 were killed and 881 suffered incapacitating injuries.
The bottom line is the 15-passenger van suffers from defective design yet remain on the road. With a high center of gravity, the center can shift depending on cargo and passengers. The vans have a tendency to fishtail with more passengers and that leads to a loss of control. Combine that with the top-heavy design and it is the recipe for a rollover. The more passengers, the higher the risk of a rollover with more than 9 passengers representing a 35.4% rollover risk, according to NHTSA.
Rollovers tend to eject passengers leading to traumatic head injuries and certain death, and for those who stay inside, the defective vans lack the structural integrity that can protect a passenger in a secondary collapse or intrusion of a roof or door.
Manufacturers knew better when, in the early 1970s, they chose to modify a cargo van to carry more passengers by making the body longer instead of extending the wheel base and adding dual rear wheels. Ford and Dodge made the earliest models with General Motors entering the 15-passenger van market last.
Defective design isn’t the only problem. A 2005 study showed that 74 percent of 15-passenger vans had problems with tire inflation that could significantly increase the risk of a rollover accident. The industry has long known that dual rear wheels can prevent a rollover when driving in an emergency and prevent fishtailing.
Florida does not allow 15-passenger vans to transport school passengers for public schools, but there are loopholes. The regulation does not apply to private schools and parents or church and sports groups who can hire the vans. They are frequently used to transport people to and from airports.
Farah & Farah has been representing victims injured in all sorts of auto and van accidents since we opened our doors in downtown Jacksonville in 1979. If you can avoid a 15-passenger van, please do so, especially for your children, elderly, sports enthusiasts, and church groups.
If you are injured, or a loved one is killed in one of these dangerous and defective products, our experienced Jacksonville auto product liability attorneys understand how to hold the manufacturer accountable for its defective design as well as the parties involved in the distribution of this unreasonably dangerous vehicle. We have the resources needed to investigate the key elements to make your case and we hire world-renowned experts to challenge the other side. Compensation can include not only medical expenses and the compensation for the loss of a loved one but punitive damages against manufacturers for the design of the 15-passenger van.