October 24, 2002 - Lawsuit settled in deadly van crash

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Victims in a May 2001 rollover accident involving a 15-passenger van reached a settlement Tuesday with DaimlerChrysler Corp. and Michelin North America Inc. Financial terms of the settlement weren't disclosed, according to Corpus Christi law firm Perry & Haas LLP, which represented many of the victims.

The suit arose from a rollover accident near Wichita Falls that killed four women and severely injured eight others. The van was made by DaimlerChrysler and outfitted with Michelin tires. The victims, members of the First Assembly of God Church of Burkburnett, claimed the van went out of control after one of the vehicle's Michelin tires, which were sold as original equipment, suddenly lost its tread. The suit included allegations of manufacturing defects against Michelin and unsafe design against DaimlerChrysler.

Safetyforum.com reported the suit would have been the first case involving the rollover of a 15-passenger van to go to trial since the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a consumer advisory about 15-passenger vans in April 2001 and since the October 2000 passage of the TREAD Act, which cracked down on tiremakers' manufacturing processes after the Firestone debacle.

According to government figures, 558 people were killed in 388 rollover incidents involving 15-passenger vans in the United States between 1990 and 2000.