Massachusetts Personal Injury Lawyer Blog

Inadequate Safety Standards Degrade ATV Product Liability

Talk about closing the barn door after the cows have stampeded: ATV manufacturers and the federal government have responded slowly to reports of widespread driver accidents. Riders of all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) are largely on their own when it comes to complying with safety guidelines.

While the federal Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) investigates allegations of defective design or parts as evidenced by injuries, it cannot hold manufacturers accountable. With far fewer safety standards than automobiles, ATVs are often only as secure as their drivers can make them.

This isn't to say that ATV makers haven't taken action to address design flaws. In the interest of avoiding personal injury and products liability lawsuits, companies such as Yamaha have offered to retrofit vehicles with important safety upgrades. Most recently, it recalled several models of its Rhino utility-terrain vehicles to equip them with half-doors. It is providing free helmets to owners and safety warnings and advice. The problem is that these issues were overlooked in the research, design and testing phases.

Where the Laws May Be Heading
It took hundreds of personal injury and products liability lawsuits to muster a recall of Yamaha Rhino UTV models 450, 660 and 700. No comparable ATV recalls have taken place, even though hundreds of ATV users die every year in collisions or rollovers. Injuries that aren't fatal often leave drivers with long-term pain or disfigurement.

The publicity over UTV and ATV accidents may prompt states to strengthen their laws, which are generally aimed at youth drivers. Safety training courses that are now optional may become mandatory, and design innovations that discourage injury may become required by law.

To find out about federally sponsored classes on ATV operation in your area, visit ATV Safety.
contact an experienced personal injury attorney at Kiley Law Group, LLP. 1-800-410-2769.

If you have been involved in an ATV accident,

Massachusetts personal injury lawyer, Thomas M. Kiley, is a member of the Massachusetts Bar Association and is a respected member of the American Association for Justice and the Massachusetts Academy of Trial Attorneys.

The personal injury attorneys at the Law Office of Kiley Law Group are dedicated to helping the victims of:

• Car, motorcycle, truck, van or bus accident
• Single vehicle accidents such as SUV or 15-passenger van rollovers
• Pedestrian accidents such as a hit and run
• Defective products such as ineffective airbags or seatbelts, prescription drugs with unpublicized side-effects, or hazardous children's toys
• Child injury and child abuse such as negligence
• Birth injuries such as trauma during labor or cerebral palsy

We Serve Clients Across the State of Massachusetts
The firm's headquarters are in Andover, MA and serves the following cities in Massachusetts: Boston, Danvers, Haverhill, Lawrence, Lowell, Methuen, Middleton, Reading, and Salem, MA and Salem, New Hampshire.