SolarMotion Laboratories Partners With Southwest Section PGA

Arizona based SolarMotion Laboratories has become a Technology Sponsor  of the Southwest Section PGA.  The company makes solar powered golf car roofs that are compatible with golf cars from the three leading manufacturers, E-Z-Go, Club Car and Yamaha.  SolarMotion plans to launch their product in the next two months and the solar roofs will come with a four year warrantee.  According to management, the company has partnered with Standard Renewable Energy and Kyocera Solar. Learn more:  Russellchrist.wordpress.com

Yamaha To Recall & Suspend Sale Of Rhino Utility Vehicles

Yamaha Rhino 660 without doors installed

Yesterday, Yamaha, in cooperation with the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC) announced a voluntary recall and suspension of sales of their popular Rhino utility vehicle so dealers can make appropriate repairs.  The action affects all the Rhino 450, 660 and 700 models sold since the fall of 2003.  Consumers are urged not to use the vehicles until repairs have been made.

According to the CPSC:

CPSC staff has investigated more than 50 incidents involving 46 driver and passenger deaths in these two Rhino models. More than two-thirds of the cases involved rollovers and many involved unbelted occupants. Of the rollover-related deaths and hundreds of reported injuries, some of which were serious, many appear to involve turns at relatively low speeds and on level terrain.

The recall involves an estimated 145,000 vehicles:  120,000 of the model 450 and 660 Rhinos  and  25,000 of the model 700.

Repairs to the vehicles are designed to improve handling and reduce the chances of rollover and include inserting a spacer on the rear wheels and removing a rear anti-sway bar.  Additional hand holds and half doors will also be installed, if they have not been already.  Yamaha can be reached at 800-962-7926 or www.yamaha-motor.com.

Learn more:  CPSC

Yamaha Touts Rhino First Responder Program

In less than three years more than 600 Rhinos have been put into service with first responders through Yamaha’s Law Loan Program and Government Order Program according to a Yamaha press release. The first program loans the side-by-side vehicles and other products free of charge to law enforcement, fire fighters, EMTs, U.S. Border Patrol, volunteer riding groups and others, while the latter program provides discounts to government agencies. Some of the organizations participating in the programs include the: Sunwannee County Fire Rescue of Live Oak, Florida, Clearwater County Sheriff’s Department in Orofino, Idaho, San Angelo Lake & Park Police Department in San Angelo, Texas and Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) Law Enforcement Division. Learn more: PR-Inside.com

Yamaha Rhino Lawsuits May Be Consolidated

A motion has been filed by several plaintiffs to consolidate the 57 lawsuits currently spread across 33 U.S. Districts into a Multidistrict Litigation (MDL). An MDL is a federal procedure that allows multiple cases with common underlying facts to be consolidated for pretrial litigation in order to provide consistent rulings and save both sides time and resources. Rhino at over 200. A hearing regarding the MDL consolidation is scheduled for January 29th. Industry estimates place the total number of lawsuits in both state and federal courts related to the  More…

Consumer Product Safety Commission Investigates UTVs

According to a story in the Wall Street Journal, the US Consumer Product Safety Commission(CPSC) has started an investigation into UTVs like the Yamaha Rhino and similar vehicles from other manufacturers. There have been 30 deaths reported involving the Rhino and the company has had more than  200 lawsuits filed against it related to the vehicle. There currently aren’t any safety standards for these type of vehicles  because they are essentially a new class of vehicle. According to the article:

They aren’t subject to ATV safety standards because of design differences such as having a steering wheel, in contrast to the ATVs’ handlebars. But the novel off-road vehicles also aren’t subject to the much-tougher standards for cars. Owners of UTVs don’t have to register them.

“When there is no standard in place, we have to basically determine if there’s a substantial risk of injury and death, and there’s a hurdle there that has to be met,” says Jay Howell, acting assistant executive director of the CPSC’s office of hazard identification and reduction.

This is how consumer regulation often works: Products hit the market governed by no particular safety standards. If injury reports later arise concerning a product, these gradually get the attention of both manufacturers and regulators — often with a spur from lawyers for those injured.

Based on figures provided by Power Sports Marketing for the article, approximately 150,000 Rhinos have been sold since 2003. Yamaha incurred a charge of $136 million in 2007 related to potential product liability expenses. Last month, most of the leading manufacturers of UTVs (Arctic Cat, BRP, Honda, Kawasaki, Polaris, and Yamaha) started the Recreational Off Highway Vehicle Association which has put out a set of safety rules and received ANSI accreditation to develop standards for the vehicles which they now refer to as Recreational Off-highway Vehicles (ROV).