Richard Alexander is recognized by The State Bar of California as a certified specialist in civil trial law and was first certified as a civil trial lawyer by the National Board of Trial Advocacy in 1980. He has served as a member of the Board of Governors of The State Bar of California, President of the Santa Clara County Bar Association and the Board of Governors of Consumer Attorneys of California. In addition to individual cases the firm prosecutes class actions for large groups of individuals who have suffered financial loss as a result of corporate fraud, defective consumer products, and environmental pollution. The failure of the roof of a car or truck is the most likely failure to cause death or permanent injury and the roof is, without doubt, the least crashworthy part of a vehicle. In fact, roofs are so soft that when test dropped upside-down a mere 12 inches the result is total crush that can cause death, permanent brain and spinal cord injuries.
Most rollovers occur due to tripping.
The roll that follows causes the vehicle to be tossed and to land on its roof on the side opposite the roll. That is why SUV drivers and passengers are twice as likely to be killed in a rollover than those in a standard vehicle. Weight is added to a steel plate approximately 3 feet wide and six feet long that is placed at an angle over the roof line. A roof passes even if it collapses five inches. With increased safety awareness in the 1960s of crashworthiness, seat belt restraint systems, headrests, and gas tank safety, safety engineers focused on protecting the passenger compartment to increase survivability by balancing the interplay of controlled crush and occupant restraint.