[1]...This is an actual lawsuit that has just been finalized by the jury awarding a large sum of money to a owner of a '00 Yamaha Big Bear400.

Do you guys remember a little over a year ago that Yamaha had a problem with a few headlight bulbs in some units, causing them to not work?? The problem was that the base of the bulb could come loose from the glass of the bulb. These bulbs were supplied to Yamaha from Stanley.

This guy , who admited that he was drunk, sued Yamaha claiming that BOTH his headlights went out at the same time causing him to hit a stump and injure himself. He now has alleged back problems causing him to not be able to hold down a job. Well,..the jury found him convincing and now Yamaha will pay this guy a sum of 2500.00 a month for life. Including all future health problems.

What's strange is that they wouldn't allow the dealership to testify on Yamaha's behalf. The dealership claims that when they did the wreck estimate on the customers bike, that both headlights were half full of water and that caused the headlights to blow. They claim that the headlight bulbs themselves were still intact. They also said that the customer didn't seem to have any injuries and that he only started trouble 3 months later when he heard about the headlight problem.....................STRANGE!!

No,..this didn't occur at our dealership. I just thought that I would post it and see what some of you guys thought of it.

My opinion is that this guy is one of the few who make trouble for our sport and the entire industry. The guy may be right here. The dealer may be lying. Who knows. But from my point of view, this guy is definitly someone I don't want to ride with on my track at home.
Then I wouldn't have a home.

KNOWSALOT

 

I had the same thing happen to me on my 02 Kodiak. Just riding and the lights went out. The rim around the bulb that holds it in the light fixture came off. Freaked me out that it happened both at the same time. No fuses were blown either.

 

What can you say about juries! They give a woman millions for spilling coffey on her self & let O.J. go. [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-confused.gif[/img] Go figure! [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-disgusted.gif[/img]

 

02 Kodiak..I thought that the case I described was a little too far fetched, but after hearing that it happened to you, I am beginning to wonder now.

We had a few customers who had the headlight problem, but not where both went out the same time. As far as I know, our units went out during day time riding and just realized they were bad when the headlights didn't work when they were turned on.

Did you have an accident due to it or anything?

By the way, how many signatures do you have now?

KNOWSALOT

 

I thought that the warning sticker on all atv's said not to use drugs or alcohol while operating an ATV ????????
wonder why they didnt argue?????? [img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-shocked.gif[/img][img]i/expressions/face-icon-small-mad.gif[/img]

 

I think they should have put this guy away on a DUI.If he wasn't drinking he might have been able to control the thing.Some people just don't think of what this does to everyone else in the sport.I've heard of people getting DUI's on peddle bikes.Put him where he belongs!

 

The DUI sounds like a good Idea

 

I don't have any transcripts or anything, but it is my understanding that Yamaha's headlight problem supperceded the fact that the guy was drunk.

I don't know if it applied in this case or not, but unless a Municipality prohibits drinking on your own property and if you live in a "wet" district, the fact that a person has been drinking has no revelance in any court case regarding anything. Sort of like the fishing boat rule. It's illegal to operate a fishing boat while intoxicated on any public or state owned waterway. But you can drink all you want while fishing in your boat in your own pond. [At least in this state]

The same thing can be said about the lawsuits every year from customers getting hurt doing wheelies and lord knows what else. Most of the time, the warning decals save the OEM's butts,but not always.

 

Why are some people never willing to take responsibility for their own actions. Sue, sue, sue, it must be someone elses fault.

Sad part of it is who is really going to pay this guy. Us! The consumer who goes to buy another machine.

 

I was riding along at night and the lights went out. Thought I had messed something up. There was a street light about 150 yrds away, and i made my way to it. When I got there I noticed that one of the bulbs was in the bottom of the headlight. The other was crooked. I had no tools, and was only able to get most of the screws out. Had to rip a bracket off each headlight to remove them. When I got them off i saw that the rim had come completely off of one of the bulbs and had come almost all the way of the other. I had to sit on the front of the wheeler and hold the bulb to the connector while my gf drove back. WARNING - they get hot as hell. One thing i did notice after the fact was that when i turned the bright lights on i didn't switch it all the way up, and both the bright and low beams were on. I figure that that caused the problem, but it was still freaky that they both went out at the same time. I didn't recieve any injuries because i was eazing through a mud hole, but I can see how you could kill yourself hauling down a trail. I can see where that guy is coming from about them going out (if it really happened). But i also see Yamaha's side about him drinking.

Petition is going great, about 500 locally and about 150 from the web now.