Many adults, teenagers, and children in America have been left permanently disabled in rollover accidents involving the Yamaha Rhino Utility Terrain Vehicle.
Many have been killed.
A group of safety advocates and victims called for basic changes in the Rhino’s design to increase the safety of the passengers in the case of rollovers. The report is titled “Citizen Report on UTV Vehicle Hazards.” The report mainly focuses on the Yamaha Rhino and has been sent to several Committees including the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the Consumer Product Safety Commission, and the Recreational Off Highway Vehicle Association as well as several Congress members.
The report calls for full doors and netting to be installed. It also calls for design changes such as roll bar padding, increasing the axle width, and lowering its center of gravity to help prevent flipping.
The Rhino was not equipped with doors or safety netting to contain the passengers.
Yamaha announced that they would install half-doors on any 2004 – 2007 Rhinos for free but never issued a recall. About half of the 120,000 Rhinos have not been upgraded. People say that the half-doors are inadequate to provide the proper safety.
These vehicles are notorously unstable at the best of times. If you or someone you love has been injured by one of these contraptions, please see an experienced Texas vehicle accident attorney for professional insight.