<p>Filed under: <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/suvs/" rel="tag">SUV</a>, <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/government-legal/" rel="tag">Government/Legal</a>, <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/safety/" rel="tag">Safety</a>, <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/category/ford/" rel="tag">Ford</a></p><a href="http://autos.aol.com/article/Ford-Brian-Cole-Rollover/"><img vspace="4" hspace="0" border="1" src="http://www.blogcdn.com/www.autoblog.com/media/2010/09/2001-ford-explorer-gravel-road.jpg" alt="2001 Ford Explorer gravel road" /></a><br />
<br />
Ford's second-generation <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/tag/explorer">Explorer</a> has just cost the company $131 million. Despite the popularity of the seminal SUV, it's had more than its fair share of legal scrapes regarding its rollover resistance. And while the Explorer/Firestone tire kerfuffle has long since exited the headlines, the Blue Oval continues to get its pocketbook dinged by the SUV. According to Autoblog sister site AOL Autos, this week, a jury in Jackson, Mississippi was to decide on possible punitive damages in the lawsuit over the death of Brian Cole, a promising baseball player headed for the New York Mets. Ford settled with the family over the matter of the 2001 rollover accident after a jury awarded $131 million in damages. Punitive damages were the next decision the jury was to consider before Ford settled. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.autoblog.com/make/ford/">Ford</a> apparently disagrees with the blame placed on its vehicle, saying that the 22-year-old Cole was speeding and not wearing a seatbelt. Cole died from injuries sustained after being ejected from his Explorer during a rollover accident on a Florida highway. His cousin, Ryan Cole, survived the accident, which Ford attributes to the use of a seatbelt and the Explorer's crash performance. While a settlement can be taken as a de facto acknowledgement of the Cole family's claims that the Explorer is inherently unstable and its safety belts can fail in rollovers, the automaker maintains that it didn't receive a fair trial, and settled to bring closure to the issue. <br />
<br />
[Source: <a href="http://autos.aol.com/article/Ford-Brian-Cole-Rollover/">AOL Autos</a>]<p style="padding:5px;background:#ddd;border:1px solid #ccc;clear:both;"><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2010/09/03/ford-settles-131m-rollover-case/">Ford settles $131m Explorer rollover case</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://www.autoblog.com">Autoblog</a> on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:29:00 EST. Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.</p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://autos.aol.com/article/Ford-Brian-Cole-Rollover/>Read</a> | <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2010/09/03/ford-settles-131m-rollover-case/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/forward/19619611/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a> | <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2010/09/03/ford-settles-131m-rollover-case/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>
More...
<br />
Ford's second-generation <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/tag/explorer">Explorer</a> has just cost the company $131 million. Despite the popularity of the seminal SUV, it's had more than its fair share of legal scrapes regarding its rollover resistance. And while the Explorer/Firestone tire kerfuffle has long since exited the headlines, the Blue Oval continues to get its pocketbook dinged by the SUV. According to Autoblog sister site AOL Autos, this week, a jury in Jackson, Mississippi was to decide on possible punitive damages in the lawsuit over the death of Brian Cole, a promising baseball player headed for the New York Mets. Ford settled with the family over the matter of the 2001 rollover accident after a jury awarded $131 million in damages. Punitive damages were the next decision the jury was to consider before Ford settled. <br />
<br />
<a href="http://www.autoblog.com/make/ford/">Ford</a> apparently disagrees with the blame placed on its vehicle, saying that the 22-year-old Cole was speeding and not wearing a seatbelt. Cole died from injuries sustained after being ejected from his Explorer during a rollover accident on a Florida highway. His cousin, Ryan Cole, survived the accident, which Ford attributes to the use of a seatbelt and the Explorer's crash performance. While a settlement can be taken as a de facto acknowledgement of the Cole family's claims that the Explorer is inherently unstable and its safety belts can fail in rollovers, the automaker maintains that it didn't receive a fair trial, and settled to bring closure to the issue. <br />
<br />
[Source: <a href="http://autos.aol.com/article/Ford-Brian-Cole-Rollover/">AOL Autos</a>]<p style="padding:5px;background:#ddd;border:1px solid #ccc;clear:both;"><a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2010/09/03/ford-settles-131m-rollover-case/">Ford settles $131m Explorer rollover case</a> originally appeared on <a href="http://www.autoblog.com">Autoblog</a> on Fri, 03 Sep 2010 10:29:00 EST. Please see our <a href="http://www.weblogsinc.com/feed-terms/">terms for use of feeds</a>.</p><h6 style="clear: both; padding: 8px 0 0 0; height: 2px; font-size: 1px; border: 0; margin: 0; padding: 0;"></h6><a href=http://autos.aol.com/article/Ford-Brian-Cole-Rollover/>Read</a> | <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2010/09/03/ford-settles-131m-rollover-case/" rel="bookmark" title="Permanent link to this entry">Permalink</a> | <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/forward/19619611/" title="Send this entry to a friend via email">Email this</a> | <a href="http://www.autoblog.com/2010/09/03/ford-settles-131m-rollover-case/#comments" title="View reader comments on this entry">Comments</a>
More...