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Old 08-14-2010, 04:40 PM   #11
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Re: Penthouse Secondary Latching - SMB Service Bulletin

Don't forget to ask SMB to connect to the seat belt chime to let you know when you're unlatched.

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Old 08-14-2010, 05:39 PM   #12
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Re: Penthouse Secondary Latching - SMB Service Bulletin

Lawyers make me puke. I'm sure that those bastards sued every single part manufacturer and component supplier to that van. Let's see now, a vehicle is speeding fast, a situation comes up fast that may or may not be their fault, the vehicle rolls THREE times,and people are killed. Sounds pretty common. I seriously doubt that the roof latches killed those poor folks.

"People need to be responsible for their own actions". Sadly, only in a real world.
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Old 08-14-2010, 06:02 PM   #13
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Re: Penthouse Secondary Latching - SMB Service Bulletin

Quote:
Originally Posted by Jeffrey
Lawyers make me puke. I'm sure that those bastards sued every single part manufacturer and component supplier to that van. Let's see now, a vehicle is speeding fast, a situation comes up fast that may or may not be their fault, the vehicle rolls THREE times,and people are killed. Sounds pretty common. I seriously doubt that the roof latches killed those poor folks.

"People need to be responsible for their own actions". Sadly, only in a real world.
Last time I was on a jury they wanted to give the plaintiff money without understanding the issue of 'FAULT'. I talked them out of it, but it was scary. One guy said he would always give the little guy money from the big company - didn't matter the circumstances. That is what attorneys live for - jurors who don't know or understand but think the big company can afford it. Get 10-12 of those on a jury and you can get a big cash award.

Don't shirk your civic duty, we need people with smarts on juries or we will all pay for it.

Mike
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Old 08-16-2010, 03:15 PM   #14
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Re: Penthouse Secondary Latching - SMB Service Bulletin

When I got home from work today there was a letter from Sportsmobile. It references the service bulletin. I'm assuming everyone will get one of these. Two things I notice.
Quote:
This lawsuit was the result of a very high speed triple roll-over accident.
The bolded text is in the original.

Quote:
WARNING: DO NOT DRIVE AT EXCESSIVE SPEEDS, MAKE ABRUPT MANUVERS OR DRIVE UNDER THE INFLUENCE OF ILLEGAL SUBSTANCES. ALWAYS STAY BUCKLED UP.
Again the bolding and uppercase are in the original.

So the people in the accident may have been speeding, making sudden lane changes while high and unbuckled? Not trying to be funny. I'm wondering if that's the read-between-the-lines message here because Sportsmobile's lawyers wouldn't let them come right out and say it. Notice how if this was a general safety message it should have also included something about not being "under the influence of alcohol" but it doesn't.

Of course I might be reading too much into it. Then again .....

PS. When I went to type this in my spellchecker indicates they misspelled MANUVERS (maneuvers).
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Old 08-23-2010, 01:51 PM   #15
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Re: Penthouse Secondary Latching - SMB Service Bulletin

There was a guy on this site that had mentioned the fatality law suit last year. I thought they were bringing the GVW into the equation. I would like to know how that all turn out.
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Old 08-23-2010, 04:32 PM   #16
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Re: Penthouse Secondary Latching - SMB Service Bulletin

I not too sure, but anything that’s not OME could point toward a cause or partial cause of a wreck. So even the heavier duty tires and rims could be considered as something illegal in the judicial world. With that in mind, all the added equipment and the suspension upgrades that SMB makes to handle that weight are also non-OME. I wonder what other RV companies do about the GVWR. I would think that SMB had some type of testing done to gain some kind of variance in regards to extra weight. My van “empty” came in close to GVWR. Guess it might depend how frivolous our wonderful system lets it get.
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Old 08-23-2010, 05:20 PM   #17
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Re: Penthouse Secondary Latching - SMB Service Bulletin

When S-K did my 4x4 conversion they uprated the FAWR, RAWR and GVWR. Now I'm barely legal.

Mike
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Old 08-23-2010, 06:21 PM   #18
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Re: Penthouse Secondary Latching - SMB Service Bulletin

Seems like I've said this before in a discussion of roll cages for these vans, but I'm pretty sure every fatality I've read about re: Sportsmobiles is directly related to wearing a seatbelt. Not that I like nanny stickers, but adding a sticker like Jeep has (even on a hardtop):

Quote:
WARNING
THE TOP AND DOORS ON THIS VEHICLE ARE DESIGNED FOR PROTECTION AGAINST THE ELEMENTS. DO NOT RELY ON THE TOP AND DOORS TO CONTAIN OCCUPANTS WITHIN THE VEHICLE OR TO PROTECT AGAINST INJURY DURING AN ACCIDENT.
WEAR SEATBELTS AT ALL TIMES
Seems like a better idea then these seatbelts which are tied to nothing but the latch bolts, which are going to fail at some point, which brings us back to a full cage and tying the roof to it somehow so the fiberglass roof won't then fail...

Besides, we already know the people who need this won't bother to buckle a seatbelt...
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Old 05-22-2011, 12:58 AM   #19
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Re: Penthouse Secondary Latching - SMB Service Bulletin

I know this is an old thread, but I happened to come across this article a few days ago:

(not sure if same crash...)
http://www.tirereview.com/Article/85680 ... dable.aspx

Quote:
In addition to the jury verdict, the Barber estate received another $8.3 million settlement with other defendants.
Wonder if the other defendants were SMB?

If you Google a bit you can find pictures of the crashed van, not pretty.
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Old 05-22-2011, 07:54 AM   #20
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Re: Penthouse Secondary Latching - SMB Service Bulletin

Is this the same SMB rollover from Mexico? It doesn't sound like the same accident, and I'd assumed that the Mexico rollover where one of the beltless passengers was thrown from the vehicle was the origin of the latching lawsuit.
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