The Yamaha Rhino roared onto the market in 2003, a new breed of off-road vehicle that first drew raves — and then, an avalanche of lawsuits.


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Lawyers for the victims claimed the hot-selling Rhino had design flaws that led to rollover crashes and gruesome injuries — including crushed heads, arms and legs and amputations when riders were smashed beneath the 1,100-pound machines. Even a Yamaha vice president was hurt, his toes broken in the rollover of a Rhino prototype, when he and the president of one of the company’s subsidiaries were on a trail ride, court records show. So far, Yamaha has more than held its own in court. Of the five Rhino cases that have gone to trial, four ended in defense verdicts — including a pair of Yamaha victories last month in California and Alabama. The only exception: a $317,000 damage award in May in Georgia. The initial results “demonstrate in no uncertain terms that the Rhino is a safe and defect-free vehicle,” said Paul Cereghini, a lawyer representing Yamaha. Yet Yamaha still faces about 700 injury and wrongful death claims, and the early victories belie its huge legal exposure. Plaintiff lawyers discount the company’s courtroom success, saying Yamaha cherry-picked cases in which drivers arguably were careless. They point out that Yamaha has quietly paid settlements in at least 40 Rhino cases, some on the eve of trial. An investigation by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which found that many Rhino crashes occurred under seemingly benign conditions, has provided ammunition for the plaintiffs. “Of the rollover-related deaths and hundreds of reported injuries,” the agency declared in March, 2009, “many appear to involve turns at relatively low speeds and on level terrain.’’ The agency said it has received reports of 70 deaths in Rhino crashes. All told, it has been a rough ride for a vehicle that created a new category of off-road machines, called side-by-sides or ROVs (recreational off-highway vehicles). The Rhino, which looks a bit like a golf cart with attitude, has a steering wheel and seats for two — unlike all-terrain vehicles, or ATVs, which have handlebars and are ridden like motorcycles. It also comes with safety features such as seatbelts and a rollcage.

Source: Yamaha Rumbles Into Rough Terrain, Battling Lawsuits Over Its Rhino Off-Road Vehicle [Video]

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