Your opinion please -Frequency of roll over accidents

[Anupam Routh]

Greetings! How common are roll over accidents compared to headon and side impact accidents in general? How common is roll over with ST? Is rollover over hyped in press? What is your opinion? I value your opinions than other reports?

With thanks.

 

[TomT]

Are we doing a term paper?

Speaking as a person that's been at probably a thousand accidents, roll-overs are not really that common although anything that rides with a high center like our Tracs is very capable of doing so under the right circumstances. Before the onslaught of SUV's, roll-overs were very uncommon. Consumer Reports or somebody once listed our Tracs as one of the worst. Really hurt early sales.

 

[Dallas Starr]

Being a member on here for a couple years now I can only remember 1 or 2 members that were in accidents where there trac rolled. A simple fix for some of this is to upgrade from stock shocks and get a new sway bar. 400.00 in upgrades is easily worth not rolling and possibly injuring myself, friends and family.

 

[Todd Cloutier]

From what I recall about the roll over accidents that board members have been involved in, all of them involved hitting something that flipped the vehicle or leaving the roadway which caused the vehicle to roll. Suspension upgrades won't help in this type of accident. Driving a low, wide car will help. Even then, if you loose control and go off the side of the road, there's a high probability of rolling the car.



The type of roll over accident (single vehicle) that is reported by the gov't involves rapidly turning the steering wheel one direction and then back the other way. It's sometimes called a J-hook test due to the path the vehicle takes. It's supposed to simulate a collision avoidance manuver. I'd have to locate the report again, but as I recall, single vehicle rollovers where the vehicle stays on the pavement and is not "tripped" by anything (the type that was tested for) represented a small fraction of rollovers.

 

[William Washington]

WHy are you asking? The numbers will be different for different vehicles. Newer vehicles with vehicle stability systems may have much lower statistics, or potential for roll-over.

 

[Travis Munday]

Although I can't find the report to back it up, the vast majority of rollovers occur AFTER the vehicle leaves the roadway, much as Todd C. said. Once that happens, there is nothing the car can do to help; no amount of suspension work or electronic gadgetry will help. At that point, you can only hope the impacts are minimal and the airbags and integrity of the crash cage save you.



Very few rollovers reported here, although the sample of members is only slightly more then 10% of the total ST production <i>for a single year</i> Or about 1/6 of 10% of total production. Statistically, this isn't a very good sample group.

 

[2]

Agree with the above posts, I only remember a couple of roll-overs being posted. There were a whole heck of a lot more posts about being rear-ended or rear ending someone.

 

[CountyMounty]

I will try to do some looking and see if I can find statistics here in Maine as I know that one thing that is tracked is if it was a rollover (it is one of the check boxes we fill in on the reports for statistics). As a couple have mentioned the bulk of rollovers occur because the vehicle leaves the roadway onto very unlevel ground (ditch, hill, etc) so I would add that it depends alot on the area you are talking about. In my rural area all of the highways are undivided two lanes and there are very few guardrails or barriers that stop a vehicle from leaving the road so therefore there probably is a higher percentage of rollovers. Also the rural area makes for higher highway speeds (except for interstates) and more single vehicle accidents because there are not a many cars coming the other way to hit if you do cross over. More populated areas have a lot more head-ons on there 2 lanes.



This time of year the most common accident by far involve moose and deer. I would say at least 75% of the accidents in the last month here have been that and will be that for another month or so. I had to ask for more duty ammo because I have had to shoot so many injured animals. Most of those accidents involve minor damage and no injury but a few are worse and we generally have 1 or 2 car/moose fatalities each year. I know it is this way in other states as well.



Anyway as far as comparison to other types of accident I would have to throw out a guess that nationwide rollovers account for a small percentage maybe 10%, or much much less if you count all accident including minor ones. We have fairly few head-ons here and most sideswipes are at slower speeds in areas where there are a lot of intersections like in town. I would be quite interested in seeing any statistics anyone finds, I will look also.



I remember seeing the safety report on my 2004 ST and recall that is was rated vert bad for rollover probability but as I recall it did really well in the other areas.

 

[Jacque Brandon]

I rolled my 2003 ST in June of 04 and I seem to remember there were about three others at about the same time. As best I can recall all were due to vehicles swerving to avoid a collision I don't believe any of the vehicles left the road or ran up over a curb or anything.

In my case I swerved to avoid a head-on when another vehicle crossed over into my lane on a slight curve. I was traveling at about 50 MPH at the time, my ST rolled three times before stopping (still in the road). I was shook up and my ST was destroyed but after looking at the truck most people were surprised I was still alive. I had installed the after market sway bar but had not gotten the shocks up graded yet.

All in all I felt like the ST did quite well protecting me in the accident. Any SUV has the potential to roll if conditions are right. I now have an 07 ST and the added width really makes it handle much better and I think I would be able to maneuver better in the same situation without the rollover.

The pictures of my 03 are in my folder if you want to see them.



Jacque

 

[Nelson Atwell]

Dead men tell no tales. Rollover accidents reported on this site are only posted by survivors. On average I recall about 3-4 rollovers per year being posted since I became a member of this site.

 

[Ryan Schaecher]

I've seen the aftermath (or remnants) of at least three different ST roll overs. Have never seen or heard about the conditions that caused it (ie went off road, etc). In fact there is a badly trashed ST at on eof the body shops I pass by on the way to work. Looks like the Jws of Life were used on the cab since... there is no roof. But the tonneau cover is still on and in tact.....

 

[Tom Schindler]

I have searched, though unsuccessful, to find the USA Today report on Roll over accidents.



Basically, what is comed down to is this. Though roll over accidents are the most UNCOMMON type of accident, it is the most deadly. Of those that die, 90% would have lived if only they would have fastened their seatbelt. To sum it up, the least amount of people would die from a roll over accident over all other accidents if they would just click their damn seat belt.





Tom

 

[Todd Cloutier]

Not to mention that if you don't wear a seatbelt and are involved in a frontal collision, the airbag will likely kill you.