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Brain-Injured Man Awarded $6.5M in Texas Rollover Case

Finding that a 1993 Ford Explorer's defective rear suspension caused a rollover in which the driver was ejected and sustained permanent brain injuries, a Texas state court jury has awarded him $6.5 million.

In a statement the plaintiff's counsel said the jury found Ford 65 percent and plaintiff Ruben Zamora 35 percent at fault for the crash.

The damages were set at $10 million and reduced to reflect the parties' comparative liability.

The accident occurred Aug. 8, 2004, when the tread came off the Explorer's left rear Sumitomo SC-990 tire. Tire maker Cooper Tire & Rubber Co. was not a party in the suit.

The vehicle went out of control and rolled over three or four times, ejecting Zamora. Four passengers suffered minor injuries, according to the opinion.

At trial the plaintiff argued that a faulty rear suspension caused a loss of control during the tread separation. They asserted that the Explorer had a solid-axle rear suspension that was not changed to an independent rear suspension until the 2002 model, even though Ford knew the older design could lead to rear axle "skate" in certain circumstances.

Skating occurs when severe bouncing of the rear tires causes a driver to lose directional control.

In the late 1990s tread separation problems involving Explorer rollovers surfaced in Venezuela, according to Zamora's attorney. Ford engineers there found that stiffer shock absorbers mounted differently solved the problem, he said, but the changes were not implemented on Explorers in the United States.

Ford claimed that Zamora's seat belt was not properly connected because the lap portion of the lap-shoulder belt had been removed from the vehicle.

A company spokeswoman said Ford will appeal the verdict.

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