Citizen Report on Utility Terrain Vehicle (UTV) Hazards and Urgent Need to Improve Safety and Performance Standards; and Request for Urgent Efforts To Increase Yamaha Rhino Safety and Avoid Needless New Catastrophic Injuries, Amputations and Deaths

Safety Changes Are Urgently Needed For The Yamaha Rhino Because It Has Substantial Designed-In Product Hazards And Is Associated With Literally Thousands of Rollovers and Hundreds of Devastating Injuries, Including Amputations, Crushes, Fractures, Acute Compartment Syndrome, Surgeries, Other Disabling and Permanent Injuries, and Dozens of Deaths

Report Dated March 5, 2009

Table of Contents

1. Introduction: A Request for Urgent Efforts To Increase Yamaha Rhino Safety and Avoid Needless New Catastrophic Injuries, Amputations and Deaths
2. Yamaha Rhinos Have Catastrophically Injured Hundreds Of Consumers And Killed Dozens, See Pages 39-52 For Lists And Details Of Dozens Of Rhino Injuries And Deaths
3. Needless Death Of J.T. Crow From Tippy, Doorless Rhino With Unpadded Roll Cage
4. Ellie Sand, Age 10, Killed By Padless Roll Cage Of A Yamaha Rhino Which Rolled Over On October 28, 2007
5. Needless Hand Amputation Of Justin Miller From Tippy Rhino With No Hand And Arm Protection And Padless Roll Cage
6. Needless Arm Amputation Of Sunny Katherine Chism From Tippy Doorless Rhino Without Door And With A Padless Roll Cage
7. Billy James, Devoted Husband, Father And Avid Mississippi Outdoorsman, Had His Leg Severely Crushed By A Hazardous Yamaha Rhino. Yamaha's Door "Special Offer" Came Nine Weeks Too Late To Protect Mr. James. Tens Of Thousands Of Doorless Rhinos Remain In Use In The United States, Posing Similar Threats.
8. What Is Static Stability Factor (SSF), Why Is It Important, and What Effect Does the Rhino's Extremely Low 0.88 SSF Have?
9. The Rhino Can Easily Roll Over From Driver Steering Inputs At Low Lateral Acceleration Levels, As Low As 0.56 g's, Making The Rhino's Rollover Threshold Shockingly And Unacceptably Low
10. Containment: All UTVs Can And Should Meet Essential Minimum Containment Standards
11. Further Rhino Recall And Consumer Retrofit Notice Measures Should Be Quickly Conducted To Address Low Yamaha Rhino Door Retrofit Compliance
12. UTV Safety Envelope Is Critically Important And Must Be Maintained
13. Seat Belt Restraints: All UTVs Can And Should Be Equipped With Seat Belt Restraints That Fully Conform To Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) Standards
14. All UTVs Should Have Four Or Five Point Harnesses And/Or Three Point Automobile Style Seat Belt Restraints With Emergency Locking Retractors (ELR) That Are Sensitive To Vehicle Angle As Well As Vehicle Or Webbing Acceleration
15. Roll Cages On UTVs Must Be Padded And Must Be Designed To Be Shaped To Protect Occupants, Not Kill, Maim, Fracture Or Crush Them
16. Rollbar Padding Is Essential To Protect Rhino Occupants
17. Stability And Handling Standards, Including Minimum Resistance To Rollover, Will Substantially Reduce UTV Tip-Overs/Rollovers And Related Major Injuries, Fractures, Disabilities And Deaths
18. Requiring Minimum UTV SSF Of 1.0 Would Dramatically Lessen the Incidences of UTV Rollovers
19. For Dynamic Performance, Basic Dynamic And Directional Safety Standards Can And Should Be Adopted: UTV Vehicles Should Be Required To Demonstrate In Testing That They Do Not Rollover On A Flat, Level Surface Through Steering Inputs Alone
20. Dynamic Testing Of The Standard Configuration Yamaha Rhino Reveals It To Be Directionally Unstable, Characterized By A Transition To Severe Oversteer At Lateral Accelerations As Low As 0.25 To 0.3 g's. Vehicles Like The Yamaha Rhino That Transition From Understeer To Oversteer Are Exceptionally Unpredictable And Difficult To Control
21. When Two Modifications Are Made – Widening The Track Width And Adding A Rear Differential – The Rhino's Resistance To Rollover And Directional Stability Both Improve Tremendously
22. The Yamaha Rhino's Lack Of Rear Differential And Resulting Directional Instability And Excessive Susceptibility To Rollover Is Exacerbated By A Hazardous Single Rear Brake Setup On Many Rhinos
23. Proposal For Minimum Lateral Tilt Angle Standard: UTVs Should Be Able To Reach A Lateral Tilt Angle Of At Least 45 Degrees Prior To Their Outside Tires Lifting
24. Why Are Safety Performance Standards For UTV's And Rhino Recall Efforts Urgently Needed and Vitally Important? Because Yamaha Rhino Rollover Outcomes Include Countless Severe, Often Irreparable Complex Fractures And Other Catastrophic Injuries And Dozens Of Deaths
25. Numerous Major Instances Of Compartment Syndrome Have Also Resulted From Yamaha Rhinos

          Conclusion