Injured by an ET-Plus or X-Lite Guardrail?
Thousands of guardrails installed on roadways across our country may not function the way they are supposed to. In fact, there are at least two types of guardrails that may injure, maim, or even kill vehicle occupants. In fact, instead of ribboning or telescoping, these guardrails may -
- Slice into or through the vehicle upon impact
- Impale drivers and their passengers
- Cause severe injuries, amputations, and death
When a vehicle hits the terminal end of a guardrail the sections of the rail should telescope in or ribbon out to the side away from the vehicle while absorbing energy and bringing the vehicle to a somewhat controlled stop. Guardrails are supposed to help protect motorists, not cause injury and death. Contact us today if you were injured or a loved one killed because of a guardrail malfunction to see if you are entitled to compensation.
Recent Guardrail Deaths
Unfortunately, as families across the country are learning, when a guardrail doesn’t perform as it was supposed to, the results can be tragic. In fact, some of these families are filing lawsuits against Trinity Industries over the ET-Plus guardrail and against Lindsay Corporation over the X-Lite guardrail, alleging these manufacturers designed dangerous products and failed to disclose guardrail defects or problems.
In one case, an 18-year-old in Tennessee left the roadway and struck an X-lite guardrail which sliced through the vehicle, killing both the driver and the passenger. In another case, a driver was killed only hours after leaving his sister’s funeral. The driver left the highway and struck an ET-Plus guardrail which penetrated the vehicle from the front grill through to exit the rear windshield. The driver of the vehicle died.
What’s the Problem?
Trinity was ordered to pay more than $600 million in fines for defrauding the government after it was determined that the company made subtle changes to the design of the guardrail without informing the Federal Highway Administration (FHWA) of those changes. The changes involved reducing the exit gap from 2 inches to 1 inch and reducing the chute from 5 inches to four.
At least seven people have died in connection with the Lindsay X-Lite guardrail and lawsuits against the company allege that not only did the manufacturer design a defective guardrail system, it also failed to provide clear installation instructions. To make matters worse, the crash tests performed on the guardrail was conducted by a laboratory owned by Lindsay Corp, and as a Government Accountability Office study reported in June 2016, the FHWA has not established protocols or processes for verifying the results of crash tests that are conducted by laboratories, even those with questionable independence.
We Can Help
We believe that Trinity Industries and Lindsay Corporation must be held accountable for the injuries and deaths that have allegedly been caused by the ET-Plus and X-Lite guardrail systems. We are currently investigating claims of serious injuries including amputations and wrongful death involving these guardrails. If you or someone you know suffered injury or loss and you believe it was because of these guardrails systems, we want to hear from you now. Contact us today and learn if you or a loved one may be eligible for compensation.