Rollover Induced Roof Crush & Roof Pillar Failure

Weak vehicle roofs, roof pillars, roof headers and supports of SUVs, light trucks and vans often collapse during rollovers causing catastrophic injuries each year. In many of these rollover accidents, the roof supports collapse and intrude the interior of the vehicle contacting the occupants with forces that can cause spinal cord injuries, severe head injuries, paralysis and even death. The majority of spinal injuries to the lower cervical spine, C-4, C-5 & C-6, result when the roof crushes on the occupant's head causing a bursting fracture to one of the vertebrae resulting in a loss of intravertebral space both anterior and posterior. This type of spinal cord injury usually results in paraplegia, quadriplegia or death.

In some rollover and roof crush cases, the roof collapse is NOT too severe or intruding, but the slack in the seat belt can cause the person to "dive" into the roof resulting in paralysis and other serious head and brain injuries.This type of force usually causes the cervical vertebrae to fracture, not burst like in a roof crush injury case. The posterior corner of the vertebrae then impinges directly against the spinal cord with a loss of anterior vertebrae body height. This diving into the roof during a rollover can be prevented to great extent with properly designed and working seatbelt systems that keep the occupant from being thrown into the roof or roof pillar structure. In some seatbelt systems, the seat belt will actually take up the slack with what is known as a pre-tensioning device, reducing the amount of movement and helping to prevent spinal cord injuries with the roof during a rollover. When inspecting a roll over vehicle, a trained investigator / engineer can usually find the "head prints" or marks that will should contact between the head and the roof.

Roof Strength Integrity in Rollovers

In rollovers involving many SUV, pickup trucks and vans, the strength of the roof can mean the difference of life and death. This is especially true in the larger SUVs including the Chevrolet Suburban, Ford Explorer, Chevy Tahoe, GMC Yukon, Ford Excursion, Ford Expedition, Lincoln Navigator, Toyota Sequoia, Ford F150, F250, F350 trucks and most of the 15 passenger vans. The roof structure of these vehicles usually will not withstand a rollover accident without serious deformation and roof crush intrusion.

FMVSS 216 Roof Strength Safety Standard

Under the current Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 216, the roof support or pillar on a passenger car must deform no more than five (5) inches when it is subjected to a force of 1 1/2 times the vehicle's weight or 5,000 lbs, whichever is less. Under FMVSS 216, SUVs & pickup trucks (light trucks) are not even required to meet the minimal requirement of FMVSS 216. Thus the roof pillars of a 6,000 lb. pickup truck or SUV, would need to only withstand only 5/6 of the vehicles on weight in order to pass FMVSS-216. This is reason that the roofs of many "light" trucks & SUV's roof crush under their own weight. This " safety" standard only applies to the front roof supports/pillars not the center or rears ones, therefore severe roof crush accidents and injuries will continue until these Federal Safety Standards are significantly revised and other rollover prevention and rollover reduction measures are enacted and put into law.

Free Rollover - Roof Crush Lawsuit Evaluation

If you or a loved one have been seriously injured, or a loved one has died, in a rollover accident, serious crash or any type of vehicle collision, then please call us to discuss your legal rights. If you believe that the design, a defect in the vehicle itself or the negligence of others caused the injuries or losses, then please e-mail us your questions and concerns. Fill out our free online case evaluation form by clicking the link below or call us toll free to speak with a lawyer: 1-800-883-9858. Nationwide help is available.