Every year in the United States there are hundreds of  passenger van rollover accidents occur.These vans include Fifteen Passenger Van, Minivan, Conversion Van & Custom Vans.  In these rollovers, often the occupants are seriously injured or killed due to injuries from roof crush,  roof collapse, tire failures, seatback failures & defects, seatbelt injuries,roof pillar failure or collapse, lack of headrests, lack of glazing of windows and even gas tank fires and fuel tank explosions. Some have urged for a recall due to the lack of warning of this rollover hazard.  Shockingly most passenger and cargo vans can not withstand a rollover without serious roof crush or roof pillar collapse.The central reason for roof collapses and roof failures of SUV's and vans  is because they are unstable and have a tendency to roll over. Most minivans, conversion vans, carpool vans, church vans school vans, fifteen passenger vans and custom vans have a high center of gravity and are some of the most unstable vehicles on the road today in America. Although there are many rollovers associated with  these vans,  very few, if any,have any type of rollbar or other roof crush protection device.. And to make matters worse, few  vans meet the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration roof safety standards for automobiles.                                                                                        

 Everyday in the United States there are hundreds of  SUV rollovers, truck rollovers, van rollover accidents and 15 passenger van rollover accidents. In these rollovers, often the occupants are seriously injured  due to roof crush. roof collapse, tire failures, seatback failures & defects, seatbelt injuries, roof pillar failure or collapse, lack of headrests, lack of glazing of windows and fuel fed fires, gas tank fires and fuel tank explosions.The chief hazard occurs when taking emergency action after steering in one direction and then being forced to rapidly correct in the opposite direction, such as a typical avoidance maneuver with a road hazard,another vehicle,  a deer, a dog or even a child in the roadway. The result often times is a rollover. Rollovers occur because of the absence of a lower center of gravity and a wider track width, which allows most automobiles to skid, spin and recover. But when taking a common evasive maneuvers that car drivers safety complete every day, rapidly corrective action causes SUV and vans to trip and roll over. When this happens, many police officers cite the driver of the van or SUV for overcorrecting, over-steering, failure to control the vehicle and driver inattention.

VAN ROLLOVER ACCIDENTS RESULTING FROM TIRE FAILURES

Another van rollover situation is created when there is a sudden tire failure, either from a road hazard type blowout or from a tire tread separation. This sudden loss of control can cause the back end of the van or light truck to swing out or "fishtail", resulting in the vehicle skidding out and sliding sideways in the direction of travel. When this occurs, the vehicle can often trip and go airborne, starting the rollover. Rollovers are the most common cause of roof crush.  Over 10,000 people are fatally injured each year in rollover crashes. The causal relationship between rollovers and harm to occupants from roof crush has been recognized as early as the 1930's.  Nevertheless, the automotive  industry denies the relationship between roof crush and occupant injuries. 

VAN ROLLOVERS & ROOF CRUSH/ ROOF COLLAPSE INJURIES

 The main part of the vehicle's structural support system, the  roof  creates a "non-encroachment zone" or "survival space" that should protect occupants in a crash.  If a roof crushes inward substantially in an accident, occupants may suffer disabling head, spinal cord and neck injuries or even death. Most passenger vehicles and many SUVs do not have enough headroom to allow for more than three to four inches of crush without significantly increasing the risk of serious injury or death. In a van rollover, the roof being taller, allows for additional head room, but this additional height can greatly increase the chances of a rollover. NHTSA's FMVSS 216, sets the minimum strength requirements for a vehicle's roof crush resistance, but does not require manufacturers to conduct dynamic rollover tests on roofs. In a rollover, the roof can crush into the occupant space in several different ways. Matchboxing, pillar collapse and header collapse are the most common ways that this occurs. In most cases, a stronger roof support system would have prevented most of the serious neck, head and spinal injuries. To the untrained observer, roof pillars of most vehicles appear solid and sturdy, especially strong enough to withstand a roof crush in a rollover. The surprises come through when one looks at a cross-section of the pillar. Most are nothing more than folded/molded corrugated sheet metal, being hollow inside. Therefore, when impact occurs the metal folds over into the empty inner space allowing more folding or crushing to continue. Tests show that if the inner hollow part of the roof pillars are either filled with a high density foam or honey combed structure, then roof crush is at a minimal, thus saving lives!! 

 In a rollover, the roof collapses or invades the safety zone, the occupant can suffer spinal cords bursts, neck fractures, paralysis,brain damage and even death.can occur. These rollover injuries result from shear and flexion forces unto the neck and spinal cord of the occupants. Roof crush injuries are caused by the energy of the vehicle in a roll creating compressive forces pushing down on the top of skull when the head is in an upright position. The compression causes a bursting fracture in the C5 to C7 of the cervical spine. This bursting fracture causes a loss of intravertebral space both anterior and posterior.

ROOF CRUSH - " DIVING-INJURIES" FROM SEAT BELT FAILURES & DEFECTS

Another type of serious neck and head injury occurs when the occupant "dives" into the roof, resulting in the head flexing forward before receiving an impact to the top of the head. This so-called diving injury is a common tactic that the defense will try and deploy to convince the jury that their collapsing and defective roofs didn't cause the injury. In fact, it can often be shown the only reason the person had enough energy and speed to reach the roof is a result of the seatbelt system allowing too much slack into the  system or a complete failure of the buckle to hold. Interestingly, it is often shown that such "diving" injuries do not happen to the occupants on the side of the vehicle with NO roof crush. This helps to prove the fallacy of the diving defense.  When these types of injuries happens,  the bone in cervical vertebrae  fractures, (NOT A BURST). The posterior corner of the vertebrae then impinges directly against the spinal cord resulting in loss of anterior vertebrae body height. Diving type injuries can happen to belted occupants,  who for many reasons become unbelted or unrestrained during a rollover.