When sport-utility vehicles first arrived on the market, they were often sold as alternatives to station wagons, with a high carriage and large frame that are supposed to keep occupants safe. Ironically, the record since then has shown that those exact features -- their larger size and height -- actually make defectively designed SUVs more dangerous than the average private passenger vehicle. Many SUVs are designed with dangerously high centers of gravity, making them prone to deadly rollover accidents, in which the SUV literally flips over, throwing occupants around and sometimes out of the vehicle.

Statistics from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration show that SUVs roll over nearly three times as often as passenger sedans. Furthermore, the agency reports that the most common type of SUV rollover accident is a single-car accident; that is, SUVs are prone to tip over even without a strong impact from another vehicle, due to defective designs. The heavy loads of cargo and passengers that the vehicles are advertised and sold to carry contribute to the problem, by shifting weight in a way that makes the vehicle more difficult to handle during normal and foreseeable driving situations.

Rollovers are well known as one of the most dangerous types of accidents a motorist can be involved in. Rollover victims accounted for a quarter of all highway deaths and half of all SUV deaths in 2001. When passengers live, the most common type of injury is a traumatic brain injury, which can cause permanent brain damage and disability. And other design defects common in SUVs, including flimsy and unreinforced roofs that can be crushed during a rollover, just add to the unreasonable dangers that defectively designed SUVs pose to their occupants.

SUV rollover accidents can kill, maim and permanently disable their victims. If you or a loved one has been involved in a rollover accident that you think may have been caused by a defectively designed SUV, the auto products liability lawyers at Bisnar | Chase can help. Our experienced attorneys have recovered millions of dollars for personal injury and wrongful death victims, helping them pay medical bills, recover from missed work and put together lives torn apart by death and serious injury. For a free consultation about your case, call us today at 1-866-424-7267 or click here to fill out our online case evaluation form.

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