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Yamaha
Rhino Rollover &
Recall - Blog |
October 21st, 2009
The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission today announced a voluntary recall of the following products. Consumers should stop using recalled products immediately unless otherwise instructed. The reported hazard is that these off-road vehicles can accelerate without warning, posing a risk of injury to users and/or bystanders.
Bad Boy Enterprises has received 32 reports of unexpected acceleration, including reports of injuries such as a fractured toe, rotator cuff injury and sore muscles. The recall involves Bad Boy Buggy Standard model off-road utility vehicles. Lieff Cabraser represents clients injured by these vehicles as well as persons injured by Yamaha Rhino ATVs.
The Bad Boy Buggy Standard model has one row seat that allows two persons (the driver and passenger) to sit side-by-side while the vehicle is operated. The Standard has an open air design (no doors or windows), but has a roof. The Bad Boy Buggy Standard models come in Realtree camouflage pattern, Hardwoods camouflage pattern, hunter green, red and black colors. The affected models have serial numbers between 85004828 and 95010404. The serial number is located on a sticker in a cubby on the driver’s side.
Tags: bad boy, bad boy buggy, recall
Posted in Safety | Comments Off
October 21st, 2009
After years of urging by safety and consumer activists, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) voted to write new rules to regulate four-wheeled all-terrain vehicles, sometimes called ROVs, including the Yamaha Rhino. The vehicles, which resemble rugged golf cards, are blamed for more than 100 deaths since 2003. Sadly, the industry held off regulations during the Bush years.
The industry has resisted mandatory rules for years and was able to forestall new rules during the years the CPSC was controlled by GOP appointees. Further, today’s action is aimed specifically at four-wheeled ATVs and will not affect other ATVs. The ATV industry has proposed voluntary guidelines but safety advocates say the guidelines have been inadequate and they said today’s action puts the industry on notice.
Read more about this on the Consumer Affairs website.
Tags: ATV regulation, CPSC
Posted in Safety | Comments Off
August 4th, 2009
“The public needs to be aware that already 59 people have been killed in these vehicles,” said Inez Tenenbaum, head of the Consumer Products Safety Commission in a report airing tonight on CBS News. “It’s very high risk. This vehicle has a high center of gravity and it will turn over.”
CBS noted that there are no safety standards for these so-called “side-by-side” vehicles. The Consumer Product Safety Commission has received reports of hundreds of reported injuries involving the Rhino – including broken bones crushed legs, arms and heads – often on level ground at relatively low speeds. The commission also cites a disturbing number of deaths. The CBS News report featured Justin Miller, who lost his hand after a Rhino accident in May 2008. Miller stated, “The Yamaha Rhino started to rock and it tipped over on my left side, crushing my wrist.” Miller is represented by Lieff Cabraser in an injury lawsuit against Yamaha.
Posted in Lawsuits, Safety, Yamaha Rhino Accidents | Comments Off
July 30th, 2009
Jessica Lynne Braithwaite, 21, mother of an infant son, was killed around 7:40pm Thursday, July 9 in an all-terrain vehicle crash on Spence Cave Road, seven miles outside of Ardmore, Alabama. The News-Courier reported her death and the critical injury of Jonathan Barnes, 26, that occurred when lost control of their ATV when attempting to pass another vehicle. Barnes remained in serious condition in the Surgical Intensive Care Unit of the Huntsville Hospital.
Tags: Alabama, atv, UTV injuries
Posted in Yamaha Rhino Accidents | Comments Off
July 16th, 2009
The Grand Haven Tribune reports another tragedy involving a Yamaha Rhino that occurred on June 25, 2009. 29-year-old Melissa VanBeveren of Holland and Al Dietrich 47, of Conklin, lost control of their Yamaha Rhino while driving in an apple orchard almost a mile from 14th Avenue in Wright Township. The Yamaha Rhino crashed into a ravine and hit a large tree.
While Dietrich suffered only minor scrapes and bruises because he managed to jump from the Rhino before it struck the tree, VanBeveren was thrown from the two-seat Yamaha Rhino. She was air lifted from the crash site and transported to Spectrum Butterworth Hospital with multiple injuries in serious condition.
Tags: Accidents, Canada, Yamaha Rhino
Posted in Safety | Comments Off
June 19th, 2009
Within the past three weeks, Yamaha Rhino rollover accidents have resulted in tragic losses for two different families in New York and Kentucky. The Times Union reported that on May 28, 2009, 13 year old James Wyatt Spencer died in a Yamaha Rhino tip over accident near his family home in Knox, New York. Spencer was driving a 2009 Yamaha Rhino with a friend when he hit a patch of wet grass and rolled. The machine flipped and landed on Spencer, causing massive head trauma. On June 13, 2009, Josh Davis, 14 years old, died of injuries suffered in yamaha rhino accident near Manchester, Kentucky. Davis was a student at Holy Cross High School and a member of Holy Cross Church in Latonia.
Tags: Accidents, rollovers, UTV injuries, UTV safety, Yamaha Rhino
Posted in Safety | Comments Off
May 26th, 2009
The Desert Sun of Palm Springs, California, reported that Juan Carlos Camarillo, 31, of Garden Grove, California, was driving a Yamaha Rhino when he lost control of the vehicle, which rolled, ejecting and killing him.
Earlier this year, following multiple fatal rollover accidents involving Yamaha Rhinos and an investigation by the Consumer Products Safety Commission, Yamaha offered to retrofit all Rhinos on the market and suspended sales of the vehicles.
This offer is not worldwide. In Australia, it has been reported that Yamaha is “so confident its Rhino utility-terrain vehicle will be used responsibly” that is has decided against offering free repairs deemed essential by the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Posted in Safety | Comments Off
May 19th, 2009
The Record of West Virginia reports that Brian Shears has filed a lawsuit in federal court against Yamaha, alleging his minor daughter was seriously injured after the four-wheeler in which she was riding flipped over in 2006. “The Yamaha Rhino is more narrow than most vehicles in its class, being designed to fit in a pickup truck bed as a convenience to consumers,” the suit states. “Such convenience was achieved through designing the vehicle with a narrow track width, greatly decreasing the vehicle’s stability characteristics.”
Posted in Lawsuits | Comments Off
April 27th, 2009
Last week the West Virginia Record reported:
Two West Virginia residents have filed separate suits against a prominent ATV manufacturer, alleging they were injured after their four-wheelers flipped. Teresa Urban, on behalf of her minor son identified only as B.U., and Erik Morris filed federal suits against Yamaha.
Urban says her son was seriously injured when the Yamaha Rhino on which he was riding on March 2, 2008, rolled over. Likewise, Morris says he was seriously injured when the Yamaha Rhino on which he was riding on May 28, 2007, rolled over. They say the incidents occurred because the Yamaha Rhino was not stable and lacked necessary safety features, such as doors.
Read a copy of the full article on the West Virginia Record website.
Posted in Lawsuits | Comments Off
April 7th, 2009
Lieff Cabraser Heimann & Bernstein, LLP has been representing Yamaha Rhino victims for three years. We currently represent more than 100 Rhino clients, and have filed cases in federal and state courts throughout the country. These cases allege that the Rhino is dangerously unstable and lacks essential crashworthiness features. The recent Consumer Product Safety Commission action confirms our long-held view that the Rhino is unduly prone to tipping over.
On February 13, 2009, the Judicial Panel on Multidistrict Litigation coordinated all federal Yamaha Rhino litigation for discovery and pretrial purposes and assigned the case to U.S. District Court Judge Jennifer B. Coffman of the Western District of Kentucky. On March 25, 2009, the Court appointed Elizabeth J. Cabraser of Lieff Cabraser as Plaintiffs’ Lead Counsel.
In addition, Lieff Cabraser is serving as co-trial counsel in a case scheduled to commence trial later this month in California state court. This will be the first Rhino injury case in the nation to proceed to trial.
Update
April 17, 2009
Unfortunately, Yamaha last week successfully sought continuance of the California state court trial on the ground that it needed an expert to address the March 31, 2009 action by the Consumer Product Safety Commission.
Tags: Lawsuits, UTV safety, Yamaha Rhino
Posted in Safety | Comments Off
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