Rhino Rollover Claim Center

WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), in cooperation with Yamaha Motor Corp. U.S.A., of Cypress, Calif., is announcing a free repair program to address safety issues with all Rhino 450, 660, and 700 model off-highway recreational vehicles. Yamaha has also agreed to voluntarily suspend sale of these models immediately until repaired. Consumers should immediately stop using these popular recreational vehicles until the repair is installed by a dealer.

CPSC staff has investigated more than 50 incidents involving these three Rhino models, including 46 driver and passenger deaths involving the Rhino 450 and 660 models. More than two-thirds of the cases involved rollovers and many involved unbelted occupants. Of the rollover-related deaths and hundreds of reported injuries, some of which were serious, many appear to involve turns at relatively low speeds and on level terrain.

About 120,000 of the 450 and 660 model Rhinos have been distributed nationwide since Fall 2003. Some units have been equipped by Yamaha with half doors and additional passenger handholds, either before or after sale.

Complete Recall Information

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It looks like Kawasaki is now getting into the side-by-side game. Their Teryx is being sold all over the country as a new sportier version of the ill-fated side-by-side ATV design. Although made by a different company and after becoming aware of the dangerous design of these ATV’s, they chose not to take the threat of rollover seriously either. Not only is the design overly top-weighted… it has still not addressed the opening at foot level that has caused all the injuries that the Rhino is accountable for. As long as ATV manufacturers willfully disregard the safety of their consumers, people will continue to get hurt by these things. There are several flaws to the side-by-side design but we think they should start with the most dangerous flaw first and install a door so people’s legs will stop getting crushed.

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An all new safety issue has prompted Yamaha to recall its Rhino ATV. The official reasoning for this recall is a faulty left-side brake caliper. About 7800 of the Side-by-Side Yamaha ATVs are included in this recall. The fear that the brakes may fail are the official reason, but the Rhino is widely considered the most dangerous ATV on the market because of the rollover problems that have injured thousands.

As of this writing, no injuries are attributed to the brake defect. Interestingly, this is the reason Yamaha has decided to pull the dangerous ATV in for repairs. There have been calls for a product recall for years due to the design flaws that have caused these rollovers. It is argued that the Rhino is much too top heavy and that the wheel base is much too narrow for a reasonable person to consider the Rhino safe. And we have seen hundreds of severe leg injuries that have resulted from these flaws. However, these reasons are nowhere to be found in the recent recall notice.

Any reason to get these defective machines out from under children should be considered a good thing, but it’s still painful to see Yamaha neglect to publicly renounce the nonsensical design that has led to these many injuries.

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The main reason this claim center exists is because of the unbelievable number of leg-crush accidents that have happened due to the design flaw in the Yamaha Rhino. Our natural instinct when we’re falling is to try and steady ourselves so as not to completely fall over. This places all passengers in Yamaha Rhino Atv’s at significant risk. The top heavy design makes it so that when a Rhino takes even a moderate turn, it has a tendency to roll onto its side and sometimes completely upside down. Add to that the fact that there is nothing stopping a passenger’s leg from shooting out the side in an attempt to stop the vehicle from falling over and you often get a very heavy ATV falling right onto the leg of an unsuspecting rider. Once the Rhino is on top of this person’s leg, it is extremely difficult to get the ATV back up. When there are compound fractures and deep lacerations, this can be obviously very painful. In many of our cases, the victims have needed to be life flighted out of extremely remote areas just to save their lives. Although the injuries run the gamut of leg crushes, we have even seen cases where the leg had to be amputated. These are extreme cases, but have happened more than once. If you think you may have been injured because of this rollover problem, please contact us as soon as possible and we will have someone help determine if the Rhino’s faulty design is actually to blame.

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Here are some interesting news stories regarding the Yamaha Rhino

http://www.newsinferno.com/archives/2574

http://wilmington.injuryboard.com/defective-products/atv-rollover-accidents-yahmaha-rhinos-defective-design.php

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