Safety Defects That Led to the Yamaha Rhino Recall

By Michele Wallace

Published on November 20, 2009

The Yamaha Rhino all-terrain vehicle (ATV) was marketed as a recreational vehicle capable of off-road operation under a wide variety of conditions. However, its design turned out to be extremely dangerous, causing rollover problems that resulted in serious and life threatening injuries to consumers.

With the Rhino ATV, Yamaha was entering a new market. The side by side ATV was designed to be faster and more agile than its competitors' vehicles. Unfortunately, Rhino's design caused instability, which made the vehicle more prone to rollover or crash.

The safety defects that led to the Rhino recall are due to the vehicle being very top heavy and having small tires on a narrow frame. This set up makes the Rhino more likely to tip or rollover, even if it is being operated in a safe manner at slow speeds on a flat surface. In fact, rollovers of Yamaha Rhino have been observed at speeds as low as 13 miles per hour.

When the Yamaha Rhino was introduced in 2003, the vehicle did not have doors, which left the legs of occupants unprotected. In many cases, severe fractures and crush injuries occurred as a result. In some unfortunate cases, the force of the ATV crash pulled the entire body under the vehicle, resulting in death.

In March of this year, all Yamaha offered free repairs for Rhino models 450 and 660; the repairs designed to prevent accidents that resulted in 46 deaths and hundreds of injuries.

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