Ford sued by California family in fatal SUV rollover

By Jim Greene

Published on August 03, 2005

The Anaheim family is suing Ford for general negligence, product liability, wrongful death, loss of companionship, and negligent infliction of emotional distress. Ruth Contreras, mother of five, and Oscar Garcia, who were cousins, died July 27, 2003, when the driver of the Ford SUV lost control of the vehicle on Interstate 15. According to the suit, the vehicle was traveling at about 65 miles per hour and the driver was steering normally and not responding to any extraordinary conditions. There were no other vehicles involved in the incident.

The lawyer who filed the suit for the family said that Ford knew the 1997 Explorer was subject to rollover and was unsafe. He said that, before the vehicle's introduction in 1990, the company considered design changes to improve the vehicle's stability, then rejected them in order to save money and meet the production date goal.

A Ford spokesperson said that the design of the Explorer was not a factor in the accident, and that the vehicle has proven safe and consistently performs as well as, or better than, other vehicles in its class.

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