2nd Generation Explorer News and Notes

A jury has blamed Ford for concealing dangers that could have prevented a 1998 Explorer rollover crash.

According to the lawsuit, concerned Ford engineers wanted to change the design of the 1998 Explorer to stop rollovers. Ford refused and switched to computer simulated rollover tests instead. Ford will appeal the jury’s decision to award $151 million to an Alabama man who was paralyzed in a 2015 rollover crash.

A Texas man has been awarded $4.8 million dollars for losing his arm after his 1999 Ford Explorer rolled over in a crash.

Ford was held liable for using a cheap tempered window glass that didn’t do what tempered glass is designed to do.

The jury ruled there was a design defect in the 1999 Ford Explorer when it was originally sold by Ford, a defect that caused the plaintiff to lose his arm. And when asked to determine how much Ford was responsible for his injuries, the jury ruled Ford held 90 percent liability.

On the surface, this sounds like a win for the little guy against a major corporation, but that line gets a bit blurry when you consider:

1. The plaintiff was twice the legal intoxication limit when he crashed.
2. The jury couldn’t bring themselves to hold Ford 100% liable for the crash because the dude still had original suspension parts on his SUV with over 300,000 miles on the odometer.

The details of the case almost have you sympathizing with Ford. But then you remember the company’s net worth is around $143 billion and they used cheap glass to save a few bucks back (at our expense) in 1999.