Tony,
I was aware of the crash test results when I bought my Dakota. I assume
most potential owners check this stuff out prior to making a purchase. A
capitalistic approach to the "safety" situation is to boycott substandard
suppliers instead of burden the system with excess litigation. Excess
litigation leads to excess laws. Excess laws tend to be in conflict with
our constitutional rights, which are the reasons for living in and loving
this country. Unless the injured passenger of the Dakota was forced to ride
in it Im assuming free will was his reason for being there. Ignorance (of
crash test results) is not an excuse for litigation. When passengers enter
my 65 plymouth, they are aware that it is not equipped with modern safety
restraints. They "understand" that they may be injured due to my driving.
They make a choice. Do we sue the department of transportation for
designing such inflexible guardrails? Do we sue the weatherman for the rain
that causes our braking distance to increase? Where does it end?
Investigate and improve, dont sue. Thats why we have insurance, to cover
our costs for injuries when the inevitable happens.
BKB
At 10:55 AM 6/4/98 -0800, you wrote:
>> Hitting a guardrail head on is potentially life threatening in any vehicle,
>>and you are lucky to be alive. I am totally against "deep pocket"
>>lawsuites for things that can be expected to happen (mechanical failure). I
>>hope you do not proceed with one. I do appreciate any information on Dakota
>>safety harness maintenance and upgrades if necc......
>
>Of course any accident is potentially dangerous in any vehicle, however, as
>the recent crash tests have indicated , head trauma was the main culprit in
>the Dakotas poor ratings.
>All other injury data was equivalent or superior to the other vehicles in
>the tests. Point being here is that a vehicle that eliminates or minimizes
>head trauma CAN be made. If it takes a multi-million $$$ lawsuit to force
>CC to think about it , so be it! If I thought customer concerns or safety
>reports alone would do the trick I wouldn't advocate any legal action but
>we all know what motivates a large company like Chrysler Corp. Perhaps the
>Mercedes thing will inspire them to improve this safety flaw in their
>vehicles.
>
>Tony J. Mastres
>Photographer
>Photographic Services __
>1120 Kerr HAll UCSB []_.-' (Q,___\
>Mastres@id.ucsb.edu *******`(o) >>>}__(o)s>
>
>
>
>
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