Ford pays €50m to crash victim’s family

A FLORIDA jury has ordered car giant Ford to pay over €50 million to the family of a teenager killed in a roll-over accident when his friend fell asleep while driving an Explorer off-roader.

Ford was liable in the accident because it sold a vehicle with poor handling and stability, the jury said.

The company plans to appeal, a spokeswoman said.

The family of Lance Crossman Hall, aged 17, claimed Ford knew the Explorer was prone to roll-overs and failed to warn consumers about the vehicle’s defects.

Ford blamed defective Firestone tyres for the Explorer’s handling and stability problems and the company knowingly continued to produce unsafe vehicles, Bruce Kaster, a lawyer for the family, said.

But Ford spokeswoman Karen Shaughnessy said: “This tragic accident occurred when the driver of the vehicle fell asleep at the wheel while travelling at highway speeds.

“Real-world experience and testing show that the Explorer is a safe vehicle, consistently performing as well as or better than other vehicles in its class.”

Hall was in the front passenger seat and wearing his seat belt when the Explorer rolled over four times in Collier County on April 20, 1997. He was thrown from the vehicle and died at the scene. The driver of the 1996 Explorer, Melahn Parker, was charged with careless driving.

Parker had attempted to regain control of the vehicle, but a handling problem caused it to turn sideways, which triggered the roll-over, Kaster said.

“Ford vehicles are supposed to be designed to slide out in an emergency situation, not roll over, and that’s according to Ford’s own internal criteria. But the Explorer is one of their vehicles that will not meet their own criteria. It will roll over,” Kaster said.

The jury ordered Ford to pay the family €980,575 in damages and around €49m for the pain and suffering of Hall and his mother, Joan Hall-Edwards.

Ford was not ordered to pay punitive damages.