If you won an SUV, then you are at risk to a rollover accident. These horrific car crashes can be fatal in some instances of passengers inside the vehicle, and involve a car that has flipped all the way over. According to JD Supra, SUVs are designed in a way that makes them more vulnerable to rollover accidents. They are top heavy and have a very narrow base. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that rollover accidents account for about a third of all traffic accident fatalities, which means that these are a significant problem.

In some states, the percentage of vehicle rollovers accounts for as many as 2/3 of all traffic accident deaths. The accidents are extremely hazardous for any vehicle occupants because they may be thrown out of the vehicle if the door happens to open. As well, there are times that the roof of the car may be crushed during a rollover, trapping or crushing the men and women inside the car. When people are ejected from the car in these sorts of accidents, they may hit the roadway with fatal force causing death or a severe brain injury. People can also suffer from horrible road rash if they are thrown from the car and tossed onto the road.

Most of the time, SUV rollovers stem from a SUV trip accident that triggers the car’s imbalance. A trip accident occurs when the tire of the vehicle drops off the edge of the roadway. This may happen if a driver is getting fatigued and fails to maintain a position in the lane, or if he or she is inebriated and is not able to drive in a straight and safe pathway. As well, drivers that are distracted by something that they are eating or are trying to pick something up off the floor may find themselves in this situation as their car drifts towards the edge of the road before they have time to catch their mistake.

When this happens, drivers typically choose to turn the steering wheel hard in the opposite direction to pull the car back onto the road. They then want to steer the wheel back the opposite way to right the vehicle and keep driving. This natural reflex can sometimes save a driver from getting into a horrible accident, but in other situations it may actually facilitate one. Because of the wheelbase and heavy top on an SUV, the quick jerk of the steering wheel may actually send the car into an irrecoverable imbalance.

As a result, the car may tip, and because of the speed at which it was travelling it may roll over multiple times. This can cause incredible chaos inside the vehicle. Those who are not wearing a seatbelt may even be killed as a result of the rollover. In smaller cars, this sort of accident won’t occur if a driver tries to correct his position in the lane by pulling at the steering wheel. This is because the weight balance on these cars is different and facilitates different reactions when the steering wheel is pulled at.

While it is not necessarily effective to attempt to sue an SUV manufacturer for a rollover accident, you may be able to litigate against any other parties that were responsible for your SUV rollover accident. For example, if you swerved your car because a reckless driver came close to you and this triggered the rollover, then chances are that you can litigate against that driver as long as you have his or her information. You will want to discuss your situation with a car accident attorney as soon as possible so that you can get the compensation you deserve for your rollover accident.