Yamaha Rhino Accidents and Deaths Lead to Safety Investigation
The Wall Street Journal is reporting that the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is now looking into the safety of the Yamaha Rhino as a result of a growing number of rollovers, resulting in at least 30 deaths and over 200 Yamaha Rhino accident lawsuits filed on behalf of injured riders.
The Yamaha Rhino is a newer type of all-terrain vehicle, which is a cross between smaller recreational off-road vehicles and larger utility vehicles, like the Kawasaki Mule and John Deere Gator.
Although it looks like a utility vehicle, with four wheels, two side-by-side bucket seats and a flat bed in the back, it is designed to be faster and more agile, which causes many of the stability problems.
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Learn MoreUnder current federal regulations, the Yamaha Rhino is not subject to the same safety standards that traditional ATVs must meet because it has a steering wheel instead of handle bars featured on recreational ATVs. The U.S. CPSC investigators will be looking into whether the side-by-side ATVs pose a “substantial risk of injury and death.”
Throughout the country, riders who have suffered fractured bones and other debilitating or fatal injuries have filed Rhino accident lawsuits against Yamaha alleging that design defects caused their ATV to rollover under normal operating conditions.
According to the complaints, the Rhino is prone to rollover, even when it is operated at slow speeds on flat surfaces, because it has a high center of gravity and a narrow wheel base combined with a powerful engine and small turning radius.
In recent months, there have been a number of media reports highlighting fatal Yamaha Rhino accidents throughout the United States.
On back-to-back weekends in August, two young boys who were riding as passengers in separate Rhino rollovers in Texas and Wisconsin were killed. On August 16, 2008, an 8 year old boy was ejected and crushed under the weight of the vehicle in a Yamaha Rhino crash, and on August 24, 2008, a three year old boy was killed when his father’s Yamaha Rhino rolled over.
Last month, yet another fatal Yamaha Rhino accident claimed the lives of two 11 year old girls in Mississippi when the ATV they were in rolled over on a paved road.
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8 Comments
Yamaha Rhino ATV Recall Issued and Sales Suspended Pending Repairs - AboutLawsuits.comApril 1, 2009 at 2:15 pm
[...] to a statement released by the CPSC on March 31, 2009, they have investigated more than 50 Yamaha Rhino accidents involving 46 deaths suffered by drivers and passengers in Rhino 450, 660 and 700 model off-road [...]
JohnboyJanuary 12, 2009 at 4:56 pm
I bought my first rhino In June of 06, and it is Jan 09 now. I ride in the sand, the desrert, and the mountains. I dive it pretty easy, and I drive it pretty hard at times. I have yet come close to a roll over. I have been riding motorcycles since I was 13, moved to 3 wheelers when I was 18, and then to quads as an older adult. I am soon to be 46 in June 09. As with any vehicle, you have to have c[Show More]I bought my first rhino In June of 06, and it is Jan 09 now. I ride in the sand, the desrert, and the mountains. I dive it pretty easy, and I drive it pretty hard at times. I have yet come close to a roll over. I have been riding motorcycles since I was 13, moved to 3 wheelers when I was 18, and then to quads as an older adult. I am soon to be 46 in June 09. As with any vehicle, you have to have common sense, and also be aware of what you and your vehicle are capable of. 3/4 of the rollovers I have seen are from kids driving the Rhino's. No adult supervision. The other rollovers I have seen were from going beyond the capabilities of the machine. And finally, just from being stupid. I for one, am totally secure with the Rhino, and I/we (wife) feel safer, than we do riding our quads.
RayNovember 18, 2008 at 11:49 pm
Sam and Kev, just because you personally might not have yet been mangled by one of these things doesn't mean that everyone who has is a moron and lacks good judgment. I've ridden motorcycles my whole life and I've been riding sport quads for the last 6 years. I've had plenty of accidents and mishaps but never felt betrayed by the vehicle before. Last month, in an effort to get my wife intereste[Show More]Sam and Kev, just because you personally might not have yet been mangled by one of these things doesn't mean that everyone who has is a moron and lacks good judgment. I've ridden motorcycles my whole life and I've been riding sport quads for the last 6 years. I've had plenty of accidents and mishaps but never felt betrayed by the vehicle before. Last month, in an effort to get my wife interested in ATVs I rented a Rhino. It gave the appearance of being safer than my Quads because of the roll cage and seat belts. We wore helmets and seat belts. I drove her around for a while to give her a feel for the vehicle. I was shocked at how easily the inside wheels came off the ground! Unbelievable. I warned her and let her take over driving. To my dismay, she handled it pretty well in the sand. But later the sand gave way to hard packed dirt. On her very first attempt at turning on dirt the inside wheels came up (perfectly level ground). She had no sense of the danger. I was aware and prepared so I grabbed the steering wheel from the passenger side and forced a countersteer. Absolutely no response! Once it was up it refused to settle back. The Rhino rolled over onto my side and continued onto her side. I knew enough to keep my limbs inside the vehicle, but I couldn't stop the momentum. The ground was only an inch away from my torso. I suffered severe road rash on my leg in arm (in dirt!), fractured my hand, sprained an ankle, and tore my calf tendon. But I believe that I was not far from having my leg torn completely off. As I hit the ground next to me the remaining weight of my body transfer onto my far leg, pinning it to the ground. As the Rhino slid momentarily it drug my foot in a direction that it just wasn't meant to go. I don't expect that you will have any sympathy for me at all. But I can assure you that my wife and I are not the stupid stereotypes that you are trying to portray. We we not drunk or stoned, we weren't bombing jumps, we weren't racing anyone. My wife is absolutely not a risk taker and she happens to be a very conservative driver. Those Rhino's are just plain dangerous. Way, way more dangerous than a Quad. The wheel track is too narrow, the cg is too high, the anti-roll suspension geometry is non-existent, the seat belt is inadequate, and the crash protection (which is necessary when you are strapped inside a roll cage) is thoughtless. These are things that you can just "size up" by looking at it. You have to feel and experience these things to be a completely aware of the limitations. No ones going to wrap themselves in a giant protective suit and purposely flip it over so that they can understand the limits of the thing. So all of those people out there who have not tipped this thing over are just plain lucky. They just happened to scare the pants off of themselves before the thing managed to buck them and they were lucky for it. Yamaha tried to make a quick buck with a me too product in rapidly expanding market (custom golf carts, mules, etc) and they slapped together a makeshift Raptor and did a half a$$ job of it. I assure you that someone realized that the lack of stability was going to completely catch people off guard at some point before the product launched and they said "oh well, let's wordsmith something in the instructions and make some dough on this puppy!"
Yamaha Rhino Rollover Lawsuit Filed in Florida : AboutLawsuits.comNovember 13, 2008 at 7:07 pm
[...] the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) acknowledged that they are now looking into the safety issues surrounding the Yamaha Rhino given the growing number of rollovers and reported [...]
KevNovember 13, 2008 at 5:05 am
Do you think they ever watched the commercials? If they had, the would notice that the people riding them where wearing helmets were strapped in with a seat belt. Suing is never the answer, learning from your mistakes is...
JasonNovember 11, 2008 at 11:04 pm
As an ATV user, that also has small children, I can look at that side-by-side configuration and tell that it is unsafe. On an ATV, all the weight is centered, and a weight difference between two people isn't going to make a differeence on the stability. The designers were trying to tap into two markets at once, and created something too fast and powerful for utility, and too unstable for recreat[Show More]As an ATV user, that also has small children, I can look at that side-by-side configuration and tell that it is unsafe. On an ATV, all the weight is centered, and a weight difference between two people isn't going to make a differeence on the stability. The designers were trying to tap into two markets at once, and created something too fast and powerful for utility, and too unstable for recreation.
SueNovember 10, 2008 at 7:06 pm
This message is for Sam and all the others who think his way. ATV's are dangerous, but especially dangerous to children. These people who let their children ride these machines are NOT lazy idiots as you say but rather uninformed parents who trust these companies that make and market theses machiines to be safe and that is NOT the case anymore and our government is NOT overseeing these products [Show More]This message is for Sam and all the others who think his way. ATV's are dangerous, but especially dangerous to children. These people who let their children ride these machines are NOT lazy idiots as you say but rather uninformed parents who trust these companies that make and market theses machiines to be safe and that is NOT the case anymore and our government is NOT overseeing these products as they should be doing. Don't be so high and mighty to think this couldn't happen to you or someone you care about. Have some compassion for these people who have lost children from these unstable machines. Suing may not be the answer, but if it takes that to get these things off the market than more power to them. The dollar amount they get will never replace their child but it won't put a dent in the industries pocket either.
SamNovember 5, 2008 at 4:59 pm
That's great! Why don't we all forget about taking responsibility for our own reckless and stupid actions and attempt to pin it on somebody else and possibly make some money we didn't work for while we're at it! Seems to be the new American MO. These lawsuits stink of greed and lazy irresponsibility. The Yamaha Rhino is an ATV, and so as such, it comes with inherent dangers and responsibilities,[Show More]That's great! Why don't we all forget about taking responsibility for our own reckless and stupid actions and attempt to pin it on somebody else and possibly make some money we didn't work for while we're at it! Seems to be the new American MO. These lawsuits stink of greed and lazy irresponsibility. The Yamaha Rhino is an ATV, and so as such, it comes with inherent dangers and responsibilities, that's why you buy them! To all those lazy and greedy turds trying to make easy money; SCREW YOU! Your selfish actions are having a much larger, negative effect on the impeccable company Yamaha, the powersports industry, and the enthusiasts who enjoy making a living within it. Just accept the fact that you're all lazy idiots and then deal with it! Stop trying to make everyone else pay for your stupidity!