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YAMAHA RHINO PRONE TO ROLLOVERS
By Jane Mundy
The Yamaha Rhino rolled off the production line and into the marketplace in 2004, but in the wake of many serious rollover accidents, certain Rhino models should go back to the drawing board.
In response to rollover incidents, in August 2007 Yamaha sent a letter to its customers, informing them of the availability of free doors and additional passenger handholds, yet the company fell short of issuing a recall. Interestingly, Yamaha has added the half doors and handhold as standard equipment on its 2008 Rhino.
The Yamaha Rhino is prone to rollover allegedly because of its defective design: the wheelbase is too narrow, causing a high center of gravity: the vehicle is top heavy and the tires too narrow, thereby creating a vehicle that is unstable and prone to rollovers, even during slow turns on level ground.
Because of its design, Rhino rollovers have caused occupants’ arms and legs to be trapped between the ground and the passenger protective cage. Many incidents have involved broken or crushed legs, ankles and feet. Some accidents required limb amputation and some children have been killed.
In March 2008 Yamaha initiated a recall of almost 8,000 vehicles, specifically Model Year 2008 Rhino YXR450 and YXR700 Side-by-Side Vehicles, but the recall was due
to potentially-defective brakes. No injuries had been reported due to brake failure, yet at the time of this recall, many adults and children had been seriously injured and killed due to the Yamaha Rhino’s potentially-defective design that has led to rollover accidents.
Still, the Yamaha Rhino remains on the market and is still driven by children.
One family in Texas filed a lawsuit against Yamaha after their nine-year-old son was pinned underneath the Rhino when it rolled over. He was pronounced dead at Jasper Memorial Hospital in Jasper, Texas on June 22, 2007. Another young boy was killed in Alberta in a similar rollover accident. Just a few months later, a 22-year-old man suffered a broken leg when his Rhino rolled. The Kansas resident had been riding ATVs for 12 years.
Allegedly more than 60 people nationwide have been seriously injured in Rhino accidents and lawsuits have been filed against Yamaha Motor Corporation, claiming that the Rhino Utility Terrain Vehicle (UTV) contains design defects that make it dangerously unstable.
Meanwhile, some concerned citizens want the Rhino taken off the road and others are calling for a ban on people under the age of 16 driving ATVs and for the licensing of all ATV drivers.
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