KPRC Interviews Ammons Law Firm's Bennett Midlo About an SUV Seatback Lawsuit

KPRC Robert Arnold, March 17, 2011: Ammons Law Firm personal injury attorney Bennett Midlo invetigates how many SUVs could be at risk for a dangerous defect. Midlo carefully examines a warehouse full of SUV seats. Each seat is part of a larger investigation to what caused a violent crash.

Nearly 2 years ago husband and father Mario Estrada was killed when a suspected drunken driver slammed into the back of his Ford Explorer. Photos snapped by Sheriff's deputies at the scene showed the speed and devastating impact. Estrada was rocketed out of the back window and died at the entrance to his subdivision.

Julio Almeda Jr. was arrested and charged with intoxication manslaughter. The accident happened as Estrada was heading home from work. He made a right turn into his subdivision and that's when Sheriff's deputies say the driver of the pickup smashed into the back of him.

Pictures from the accident show what makes this accident so unusual. Estrada's seatbelt was locked in place at the time of the crash- this should have kept him in the SUV but the force of the crash launched Estrada out of the SUV's back window.

"Even though he did what he was supposed to do to protect himself in this colission his seat failed him." says Bennett Midlo.

Midlo says the back of Estrada's seat collapsed, leaving nothing to protect him from being thrown backward. Midlo argues this wasn't a fluke but a larger problem with the way the SUV seat was built. Estrada's family if suing Ford, claiming the pins supposed to keep the back of the seat from collapsing broke.

Midlo claims the seat collapsed because the pins were not properly inserted. This is why Midlo examined 21 seats all from the same model year as Estrada's Ford Explorer.

The pin insertion should be equal on all the seats.

"You would heope that in the manufacturing process you've got uniformity."

Midlo claims if pins are inserted properly the seat should be able to withstand the force of the person pressing against the back during a rear end crash.

But when these pins bend and fail and fracture the seatback is allowed to completely collapse. Now the lawsuit speciaifically deals with the Ford Explorer model years 2002-2005. The same model year for Mercury Mountaineer and Model years 2003-2005 Linclon Aviators lawsuit says that it only deals with those seats that are allowed to manually recline.