Your thoughts on the explorer lawsuit?

[AgentStarks]

http://kfmb.com/topstory25912.html

 

[sonik]

Too much money of course, but I'd like to hear more details about the accident. Supposedly a piece of metal flew off an RV, she swerved, and it rolled. Christ, she could have been going 90 and ****ed the wheel all the way to one side. It would have had to be a pretty good chunk of metal to get me to swerve, and not just slow down.

Here's an earlier thread: http://www.explorerforum.com/forums/showthread.php?t=109505

 

[Commtech]

Thats one heck of a "Swerve", I couldn't get on 2 wheels if I tried (at least without a good steep hill)!! I wonder if she was low on air in one of her tires, and it broke the bead during the manuver. I had that happen on a mustang I used to have, rear got REAL Squirrelly.

 

[BBQ_HotDogs]

My sister-in-law swerved to miss a deer in the road and it rolled her 98 Eddie Bauer. Killed her oldest son and injured her youngest. This only happened last year and litigation is still pending. So how much is a human life worth? Can you really put a price tag on it?

 

[Charlie's_93EB]

i rolled my ranger 3 yrs ago a car made a right hand turn in front of me from the left lane, while i was checking my blind spots to turn. So i slide 75-100ft doing a perfect 180 and i broke the beads on the driver side tires less then a foot from the grass and landed and the wheels. can a sue the mc donalds that the A-hole was going to? No

 

[Crazy5711]

That's alot of $$$$

Maybe I should roll my Explorer.







Just Kidding, I feel bad for anyone who has been injured when a vehicle doesn't do what it is supposed to do.

 

[J. Kennedy]

Its a tragic thing, and I would not trade places with her for 10x that amt.

She even offered to lower what Ford is supposed to pay if they would recall 2nd gen X's and make them more stable. Ford refused, surprise surprise.

 

[Mike 92 XLT]

She got that much and Firestone wouldn't even cough up $400 to reimburse me for my tires.

*******s.


Mike

 

[RAZOR]

It had too be. With all those tire failures and Firestone-Bridgestone claiming that it was the Explorer design and not solely just their tires.

 

[X~FACTOR]

This is why having a beefier sway bar is important. Being slightly lowered doesn't hurt either.

With the way mine is set up right now, it would take some really stupid stunts to roll my X over.

 

[AniGamor]

Pretty sad thing. It's terrible that it happened. That is an outragous sum though, if it was me of course no amount would be enough, just depends on whether you're looking at it from the outside or the inside. Poor lady.

I don't know much about 2nd gens, but I know that I've swerved to miss things on the highways at high speeds and never came close to rolling my ex. I've often been behind big rigs when theu blow a tire and it comes flying back. I've swerved a couple going swerved going 75-80 mph... Despite slightly bigger tires my ex is pretty much stock- are 1st gens less "tipsy" than 2nd's? Or maybe 4wd vs 2wd? Maybe the ford installed underbody armor plus transfer case/front drive train/ect- balances the center-of-gravity?

 

[Critical_Level2]

My ex should probably have been totaled by now from barrel rolling the thing, but I have NEVER rolled it or even lifted a tire, especially while driving like an idiot doing 96mph on I-95 switching across three lanes. I do not condone this way of driving. Now that it is lifted w/ 31's, it does not feel any less stable. Maybe the whole solution is people need to drive these things slower and like what it is, not like a car.

 

[Dolphan]

Not surprising given todays society, jury's made up of people are more sympathetic to other people and not large Co. With todays 24 HR CNN we all hear about $B lawsuits, it's understandable that this jury could come to this conclusion. What happened was a horrible situation for this family. But this is why we have gov't standards which the Explorer mets, other cars like Mercedes exceed the safety standards by more then the Explorer but costs more. We cannot design every car to be safe from all accidents - no one could afford one. I might buy a Humvee if that would make me safe - if I could afford it. We all make decisons daily that effect our livelyhoods, maybe she should not have swerved and hit the object, assuming it was small or going slower to allow better vision to not have to swerve so severe - I do not know those details. What would happen if they lived in Russia - what kind of regulations are on auto's there? We think we are safe crossing a street with lights and a cross walk - and then someone runs a red light becuase their brakes fail - for some reason and a tragedy occurs.
While noone can put an amount on this family's trajedy, I do believe the sum is too high. What is the ultimate good, she can live very comfortably the rest of her life with 24 hour care for less, is having millions in punitive damages really going to make her emotionaly happy?
Does Ford recall and change all the old Explorers or give free ones to people who have them? If allegations are true - we all should get rid of our Explorers - but that is a personal decision for each of us to make.