Ford to pay $61 mil for teen death from falling asleep at the wheel

[Cruez]

Yup, this country is full of ahole lawyers, retarded jury members and jackasses that bring these ridiculous lawsuits to our courts.

 

YOU PEOPLE NEED TO TAKE RESPONSIBILITY OF YOUR OWN ACTIONS!!...not blame everyone else for YOUR faults..

 

I'm sure over the years, of all the things I have been hurt by, I could have sued someone for something. I don't. Just my nature...and yes, I would love to be filthy rich. Just not by screwing someone else to get it..

[randy 77zt]

i work as a ford tech.i changed many sets of explorer tires.the tires werent the problem.it was the owners of the tires.when the cars come in for service the tire pressures are almost always low -99% of women dont check tire pressure.so if the exploder(techs favorite name)is limped around town on shopping sprees and then gets put on the freeway with a load at 70 or 80 mph with low tires the tires overheat and blow out.newer(2003+) ford explorers and expeditions have tire pressure sensors and a dash warning.i have a single axle (only 2 tires) car trailer that i haul my z on and it runs on those firestones no problem.but they got 40 psi in them.now the handling of the exploder with flat tires MIGHT be a problem.but i still think YOU should be responsible for your own safety.why does a pilot do i preflight inspection on any airplane he flies?

[Dragonfly]

Back when all this was still fresh in the news I read an article that listed the vehicles which are most prone to roll over and the ones that are the most difficult to roll over. What I remember most about the article was that they said the Corvette was the most difficult car to roll over but that it was aslo the car involved in the most roll over accidents. The article said the reason for that is because the drivers don't realize the limitations of the vehicles and thier own ability to maintain controll.

 

I guess what I am saying is what most everyone else has said... it is not the fault of the manufactuer but rather the nut behind the wheel. "The way to make drivers safer is not to make a safer vehicle but rather to put a sharpened steel spike in the center of the steering wheel, that driver will never do anything stupid behind the wheel" that was taken from a show on Discovery Channel about dangerous driving (the quote may not be exact as it has been awhile since I saw the show).

 

Dragonfly

[VRJoe]

The problem with the Firestone tires was with a certain batch of tires. The tires were produced by replacement workers during a strike at the Firestone plant. The tires were not Vulcanized correctly and could fail if they overheated. It took a lot to overheat the tire, low pressure, hot day and driver error, but the effects were major accident. The tire would fail, the driver would over-correct and BINGO rock and roll-over time. As I recall all the roll-overs took place it highway speed. It takes speed to roll an Explorer.

 

The funny thing is I had 75,000 miles on the "bad" Firestone tires, Ford replaced them with Wrangles that didn't last 30,000. I missed the Firestones every one of those 30,000 miles, mine were great and I can assure you I "tested" them at speed relatively often.

 

- Joe

[rudypoochris]

Ya the firestones were fine IMHO they have been driven a good 20 mph over their speed rating when I was yonger and they went well. Whatever we got 3 sets of free tires on the Explorer, never ever had to pay for tires. Plus, these last ones have lasted forever it is kinda crazy I don't know why, they must be rated at like 1000 Treadwear or something (exaggerating, i think).

 

Just wondering how the whole court thing works. Why couldn't ford just say well they were running 25 psi in their tires not 32 as recommended hence why they failed not our fault. "It seems that if this guy can say okay well I fell asleep but thats not my fault the car should know I fell asleep and not roll over when I jerk the wheel at freeway speed to correct", then ford should be able to pick out a less minor thing as well.

[Guest JAMIE T]

I don't think I've ever been in an SUV that didn't have a warning on the drivers or passangers visor warning that this vehicle is NOT A CAR. Warning that it COULD tip over. My FORD Expedition has it on the visor, so I don't believe the line that Fords car are DESIGNED TO SLIDE IN AN EMERGENCY SITUATION!

[dladow]

Phillip Howard has written two thoughtful books on the problems of lack of accountability in our society and the high cost of litigation:

 

Death of Common Sense : How Law is Suffocating America

 

The Collapse of the Common Good : How America's Lawsuit Culture Undermines Our Freedom

 

Both are well written, and should be required reading for every legislator, federal and state. They are in print and I highly recommend them.

 

Dave

[savageskaterkid]

I've watched someone roll a Z on cops. If you can roll a Z you can roll anything. The guy was probly flying like I said earlier.

 

And again' date=' 60 mil?! I'd gladly take 10 million if someone in my family was killer for a LEGITIMATE reason. 60 million is WAY too much in my opinion.[/quote']

 

 

Every car is prone to a rollover, but imo the Z is actually quite safe-i ran the right-front tire into a curb goin about 60-70mph at just the right angle, that if it were any other car-it would have deffinitly flipped, end of story. And this is a stock ZX, no suspension upgrades or anything. When i was sliding it-even though it was quick, i still had that whole "life before my eyes thing" and i actually invisioned the car flipping, and i was flippin out-never flipped. Im sure if i slide it and then e-braked it on a dry day-easily flip it.

 

There is no way that this kids life is worth 60 million-besides ppl flip cars all the time, never usually gets on the news-ppl die in rollovers from falling asleep just the same-mostly becuz of a ditch. I AM IN NO WAY SUPPORTING FORD-i'm not a fan of ford, they have not really done anything good since the early 70's, but that doesn't mean i think they should get sued. This is stupid.

[Pop N Wood]

Back in the 70's when Z's were the hot cars, I personally knew 4 people who had rolled a car, and all 4 of them were driving a Z. One guy had cut the top 10 feet off of a row of 30-foot tall pines.

 

Kelsey Grammer, the guy on Frazier, rolled his Viper .... in his driveway. I think that was just before he went into drug rehab.

 

I had Firestone tires on my Toyota. When all this lawsuit stuff came out, I took a closer look and noticed one of the tires was starting to separate on the inside where it couldn't readily be seen. Not condoning the lotto attitude people have toward lawsuits, but sometimes they have their place if they raise people's awareness or force the manufacturer to admit they really have a problem.