Feds Probe Yamaha Off Roader After 30 Deaths

FYI ....................

Feds Probe Yamaha Off Roader After 30 Deaths

The Yamaha Rhino, a hit in the off-road-vehicle market, promises to go "almost anywhere" with an "amazingly high level of comfort and ease." Now, federal safety regulators are investigating the vehicle following reports of some 30 deaths involving it, including those of two young girls last month.

The Rhino also has drawn keen interest from the plaintiffs' bar: Yamaha faces more than 200 lawsuits in state and federal courts, many alleging the Rhino's design is unsafe. Yamaha has settled some but recently beefed up its defense and says it may start to fight rather than settle.

Yamaha stands behind the design of the Rhino, a two-seat vehicle that looks a little like a cross between a golf cart and all-terrain vehicle. The Consumer Product Safety Commission said its investigation of this type of vehicle, which it calls a utility terrain vehicle, or UTV, was prompted by various factors, including the number of accident reports and the lawsuits. The Rhino is at the center of its investigation, people familiar with it said.

Yamaha said plaintiffs' lawyers "have seized on safety and product enhancements that Yamaha has made to the Rhino to allege baseless claims about the stability of the vehicles."

Many injury claims, the company said, stem from improper operation, modifications such as removing the protective "roll cage," or failure to use a helmet and seat belt. "If you operate it carefully and use some common sense and good judgment, it's a really great product," said Roy Watson, general manager of legal for Yamaha Motor Corp. USA, a unit of Japan's Yamaha Motor Co. Ltd.

The Rhino matter shows how federal safety regulators sometimes struggle to respond to what they call "emerging hazard" areas. There are no regulatory standards for the new breed of off-road vehicles, the CPSC said.

A buddy of mine shattered his ankle while driving a Rhino. Did he sue Yamaha or the place he rented it from? No because he acknowledged that he was being a dummy doing donuts on it when it started to tip over he stuck his leg out to stop the roll and it didn't work. The Rhinos now come with half doors to preven that. They are narrower that the Rangers, Mules, Gators and etc.

Sounds like more Darwin Award nominees are now owning Rhinos. I've had one for 2 or 3 years now. Yamaha installed half doors and a passenger handhold free of charge, no complaints at all. The additional safety items actually look good on my machine.

Why on earth would anyone remove the rollcage?

I take mine out in the boonies all the time. These things really will go almost anywhere. I've never gotten mine in any situation that it could even remotely turn over. What are these idiots doing with them? If they're jumping the things, racing them,then they should be responsible for the injuries, deaths, whatever. The lawyers and courts must be making it easy to go after Yamaha, at least for now. I hope Yamaha does start playing hardball instead of settling like they have been. The only thing lawsuits like this do is jack up the price for the rest of us.

Further proof that commonsense isn't.

I read the back side of rhino crash from a neighbours perspective, 2 kids were injured/killed mom was interviewed on TV crying and wanting to sue Yamaha.

Neighbours saw her drunk out of her tree with the kids in the bed tearing up and down the road right before she lost control and drove through someones yards and flipped it ejecting the kids and her. All had no helmets.

So much for the only UTV that is small enough to be useful.

It's gone, just like the 3-wheelers.

I guess personal responsibility isn't an issue.

Thats the problem right there.

No one is held personally responsible any more.

It is a machine that deserves respect just like a bicycle, atv, dirt bike, cars, the list goes on......

Its the operators not the machine. Even the gators, lawn tractor, farm tractors and you name it can get us. But gee we learned how to operate them in a safe manor.

I think the Rino is the first UTV, it started it all. I own a Polaris Ace which would roll in a heartbeat at any speed at all. I know that so I don’t push it cornering. My neighbor owns a Rino and all I can say is from the examples I’ve looked at I don’t like the seat design. The back is too low. I like anything Yamaha makes, it’s a great company.

It's always the machines fault never the human

Wow, good bump for an old thread.
I'd never looked back or considered it but yep, sure seems Yamaha rhino was head of the pack. I remember wanting one but could not swing it at that time so I did without.
I got my first side by side in 2012. A 2006 Kubota RTV 900. Slow workhorse. In 2017 I was shopping to upgrade and looked at Yamaha and Honda. I bought the Honda since it had seating for 5. The Yamaha would only hold 3.
Side by sides have come a long way. Most everyone has one in our rural community. Sure there are accidents, as there are car accidents. Most often operator error or alcohol involved.

my son had a Razor - he swapped out the trans with a higher gear one . . . makes things faster . . .
big bead lock tires . .
then promptly found a ditch in the desert to roll it five flips, at speed.

he was wearing a five point + helmet - he came out okay but the Razor was totaled.
yeah, some operator error involved.... unfamiliar territory, getting dark, too much speed.
I guess three strikes and you're over - five times . . .

I’ve talked a couple of neighbors into leaving the handle bar quad world and getting a steering wheel and roll cage unit. These are older women and I pointed out if they get separated from their machine at any speed it might be assisted living or worse from that point forward. I call mine an all terrain wheel chair, you can hang your iv drip from the roll cage. I have a cloth Bimini top so I can still grab the upper cross bar on the roll cage to get in and out. UTVs are a big life style thing where I live. I never drive a car when in my community.