Tempered Glass Dangers
Tempered Safety Glass Dangers
Tempered Glass vs. Laminated Glass
Auto manufacturers of the 1920s, before they even developed and installed seat belts, started using “laminated” safety glass. Laminated glass sandwiches a thin sheet of plastic between two layers of glass. While laminated glass may crack in the event of a collision, it will stay attached to the plastic and provide a barrier that keeps the occupants in the vehicle, rather than allowing them to be thrown out as is the case with tempered (unlaminated) glass. This was one of the primary safety features of early cars.
Non-Laminated Tempered Glass is Cheaper
While vehicle’s front windshields continued to have laminated safety glass (and vehicles such as school buses used it on all windows), makers of most SUVs (Volvo being a notable exception) chose to use cheaper “tempered” glass — the kind that shatters in an accident — on the side windows and sunroofs. When SUVs without laminated glass roll-over, the windows shatter and passengers can be ejected or have their limbs or even heads come outside the unprotected window space, allowing them to be crushed as the SUV rolls over.
Manufacturers Have Known How to Make Top-Heavy Vehicles Safer Since the 1920s
Early vehicles were all like SUVs: they were built on a frame and were very top-heavy.
The model A (and the model T before it) and nearly every car of its era had a wheel base of exactly 4′ 8.5″ — extremely narrow by today’s standards. This was so because before WWII and the post-war creation of the interstate highway system, much of the country had bad roads and no bridges. So the typical way to get around was to go off the road, pull your car up on the rails, lower the tire pressure, and go over the railroad bridge.
However, the result of all these tall, narrow cars was a lot of roll-over accidents. And this was the driving reason for the creation and inclusion of laminated side windows as an inexpensive, simple way to minimize injuries in rollover accidents.
SUVs Come Out in the 1980s with the Same Top-Heaviness as 1920s and 30s Vehicles
In the 1980s when SUVs first came out, the same problems recurred. The vehicles were narrow, heavy, and rolled over. Unfortunately, SUVs still roll over at a much higher rate than other vehicles. Laminated glass can help in other accidents, but in rollovers its ground contract, along with the centripetal forces that tend to push occupants outwards, makes it a significant safety factor.
Contact Lieff Cabraser
If you have been injured in a backover accident, you may be eligible to bring a lawsuit against the driver of the vehicle, his or her employer and the manufacturer of the vehicle for the suffering and pain inflicted, cost of past and future medical expenses and your lost wages. In the case of the death of the victim, family members may bring a wrongful death action.
Please contact an auto injury attorney at Lieff Cabraser for a free, prompt review of your case. Or feel free to contact attorney Fabrice Vincent toll-free at 1-800-541-7358.
