Rollover Accidents

When an automobile is involved in a rollover accident, it ends up on its side or upside down. This is normally caused by traveling at a high rate of speed and attempting to make an abrupt turn. All vehicles are prone to rollovers, but those with a high center of gravity and narrow wheelbase are the most popular candidates for a rollover accident. Fast driving and slick road conditions also increase the likelihood of a rollover.

Top rollover candidates

One third of all fatal car crashes are rollovers, killing more than 10,000 people annually. Ford Motor Company is responsible for bringing the subject of rollovers to light in 2001 when tires used on its Explorer SUV were proven to cause rollovers.

Since sport utility vehicles are more popular than ever, rollovers are still part of an ongoing debate. Older SUVs are particularly a cause for concern because in those days, they were constructed in the exact fashion previously mentioned that encourages rollovers: high-profile and narrow tire tracks.

In 2003, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) announced that rollover safety had become a primary area of focus. Engineers and safety gurus have concurred for years that enhancing the stability of an SUV requires a center of gravity lower to the ground and a wider wheelbase. However, cost has been the roadblock preventing this from happening, and automakers have been slow to adjust their designs as a result.

Car manufacturers have slowly answered the call with "crossover" vehicles, an attempt to blend the benefits of an SUV with the styling and drivability of a car. These are safer, more fuel-efficient, and offer much better handling due to an improved stance.

Rollover injury prevention

Due to the inherently unsafe nature of SUVs, manufacturers have begun to equip them with devices designed to protect you in the event of a rollover auto accident:

Electronic Stability Control (ESC) -- A recent technological advancement, ESC incorporates automatic computer-regulated braking at each individual wheel to assist the driver in certain conditions where a vehicle unequipped with ESC would probably lose control and run off the road. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a trusted source for information on automobile safety, encourages all automakers to install ESC on new product lines at no additional cost. Dating back to 2004, some manufacturers have willingly installed ESC on new cars, but a mere 29 percent of all 2006 models (57 percent of SUVs) were outfitted with ESC. The NHTSA conducted a study in 2004 that suggests ESC lowers the death rate of single-car accidents by 30 percent for passenger cars and 63 percent for SUVs.
Rollover airbags -- The same side-impact airbags that protect drivers' heads during a broadside collision can also be beneficial during a rollover. Aside from injury prevention, they may even avert passenger ejections.

Possibly the greatest savior of all is the ordinary seatbelt, which helps reduce fatalities by as much as 75 percent during a rollover.

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