Cypress, CA (8/5/2009)
- The following is an official statement
from Yamaha Motor Corp., U.S.A., in response
to the recent CBS News story. This statement
can be attributed to Yamaha Motor Corp., U.S.A.
Please go to www.TruthAboutRhino.com
for more information.
Safety drives everything we do at Yamaha. We
are proud of the safety record and safety features
of the Yamaha Rhino, which has skyrocketed in
popularity due to its exceptional reliability,
safety and versatility.
Over 150,000 Rhino owners have used the vehicles
safely, including the U.S. military, border
patrol, and a growing number of law enforcement
agencies, fire fighters and other first responders.
In fact, more than 99 percent of Rhino owners
have operated their vehicles safely and responsibly
over millions of hours of use. The Rhino has
won virtually every “first in class”
award and top safety ratings in independent
reviews since its introduction.
The popularity of the Rhino, and the fact that
it represents a new category of off-road motorized
vehicles, has made it a target for some plaintiffs’
lawyers who increasingly use the Internet, television
advertisements and the news media to attract
clients. As the first trial dates approach in
personal injury litigation in various courts,
some law firms have embarked on a misleading
publicity campaign to influence potential jurors
and/or the outcomes of these cases, and to solicit
potential clients. Yamaha will properly deal
with these cases in the courtroom based on all
the relevant evidence and a fair opportunity
to be heard.
Unfortunately, these law firms successfully
convinced CBS News to help further their disingenuous
publicity campaign, and the network aired a
story on the Rhino that included inaccurate,
incomplete and false information.
To begin with, CBS featured an incident involving
Justin Miller, but failed to mention that Mr.
Miller was driving a heavily modified Rhino.
As the photo of that Rhino posted on CBS's own
website reveals and the investigating officer
testified -- the Rhino Miller was driving had
an extended cage structure, and what looks to
be a back seat bolted to the rear cargo bed.
The vehicle's owner signed a waiver for his
purchase of a "Custom Rhino" stating
that the vehicle has "additional third
party parts and accessories not offered by the
manufacturer" and releasing all claims
against the dealer and "all other persons
and entities" related to the purchase of
the vehicle.
The CBS story also shows security camera footage
of an incident involving Zach Murray, a former
employee at a Yamaha dealership who is currently
a plaintiff with his own pending lawsuit. In
a post-incident letter to his employer, Mr.
Murray wrote that he intentionally stepped out
of the overturning vehicle. Although CBS was
made aware of Mr. Murray's letter, they neglected
to include mention of it in their story.
In addition, Mr. Murray was not wearing a seatbelt
or a helmet. He was operating the vehicle on
pavement then made a sharp, high-acceleration
turn, and did not stay inside the vehicle.
A more complete version of the security camera
tape shows two other vehicles being driven recklessly
on the same stretch of pavement where the accident
occurred, suggesting that an atmosphere of horseplay
existed just prior to Murray's crash, and that
the only reason for Murray to be making a sharp,
high acceleration turn was to also engage in
horseplay.
In a separate part of the story, CBS cites
documents that discuss an early pre-prototype
vehicle that had a different design than, and
no relation to, the Rhino that is on the market
today. Despite being told weeks ago that it
would be false to imply that these documents
relate to the Rhino in any way, CBS chose to
include this misleading information in its report.
Yamaha was contacted for the CBS segment two
months ago by Myron Levin, a freelance reporter
with a long history of writing news stories
that favor the plaintiffs’ bar. Yamaha
provided a great deal of information to Mr.
Levin, including responding to more than 40
written questions. Mr. Levin also conducted
an hour-long interview with a Yamaha representative
at Yamaha's offices in California. Yamaha did
not agree to an on-air interview with the reporter,
Armen Keteyian, because we could not be assured
that such an interview would not be selectively
edited and used in misleading ways with statements
taken out-of-context given the obvious plaintiffs’
slant with which the CBS producers were developing
their story.
Like the CPSC, Yamaha takes very seriously
any reported Rhino-related accident, and Yamaha
has fully cooperated in the agency’s investigation
of the Rhino and its request for modifications.
Yamaha will continue to work to promote safe
and responsible use of the vehicles, including
the active, ongoing development of standards
for all recreational off-road side-by-side vehicles,
including the Rhino.
Yamaha stands firmly behind the Rhino and will
continue to vigorously defend the product against
baseless claims and distortions, whether they
be from plaintiffs’ law firms or biased,
inaccurate media reports parroting these lawyers’
claims. The Rhino is a safe and useful off-road
vehicle when driven responsibly by licensed
operators aged 16 or older and according to
the instructions and warnings in our on-product
labels, owner’s manuals, and other safety
materials.
