WE CANNOT FIND THE PAGE YOU REQUESTED THIS PAGE MAY HAVE MOVED OR IS NO LONGER AVAILABLE.Please try one of the options below: Check our homepage to find what you're looking for and reset your bookmark. Make sure the web address used to get here is correct. YAMAHA RHINO STEERING RACK FITS RHINO 450/ 660 AND RHINO 700 NEW SEE FITMENTNote: Updated To Include Additional Model Information; safety tips also available. FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMarch 31, 2009Release #09-172 Yamaha Hotline: (800) 962-7926 WASHINGTON, D.C. - The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC), in cooperation with Yamaha Motor Corp. U.S.A., of Cypress, Calif., is announcing a free repair program to address safety issues with all Rhino 450, 660, and 700 model off-highway recreational vehicles. Yamaha has also agreed to voluntarily suspend sale of these models immediately until repaired. Consumers should immediately stop using these popular recreational vehicles until the repair is installed by a dealer.
CPSC staff has investigated more than 50 incidents involving these three Rhino models, including 46 driver and passenger deaths involving the Rhino 450 and 660 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. About 120,000 of the 450 and 660 model Rhinos have been distributed nationwide since Fall 2003. Some units have been equipped by Yamaha with half doors and additional passenger handholds, either before or after sale. Yamaha's repair includes the installation of a spacer on the rear wheels as well as the removal of the rear anti-sway bar to help reduce the chance of rollover and improve vehicle handling, and continued installation of half doors and additional passenger handholds where these features have not been previously installed to help keep occupants' arms and legs inside the vehicle during a rollover and reduce injuries.
Owners of the affected Rhinos should stop using them and call their dealer to schedule an appointment to have repairs made once they are available and to take advantage of a free helmet offer. Yamaha is also voluntarily implementing the same repair program and suspension of sale for the Rhino 700 model, in order to ensure customer satisfaction. Consumers should stop riding the 700 model until it is repaired. About 25,000 Rhino 700s are part of this repair program. Once these repairs have been made to their vehicles, Rhino users should always wear their helmet and seatbelt and follow the safety instructions and warnings in the on-product labels, owner's manuals and other safety materials. The Rhino is only recommended for operators 16 and older with a valid driver's license. All passengers must be tall enough to place both feet on the floorboard with their back against the seat back. Rhino 450 (with doors) Rhino 450 (without doors) Rhino 660 (without doors) The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission is charged with protecting the public from unreasonable risks of injury or death associated with the use of
thousands of types of consumer products under the agency’s jurisdiction. Deaths, injuries, and property damage from consumer product incidents cost the nation more than $1 trillion annually. CPSC is committed to protecting consumers and families from products that pose a fire, electrical, chemical orCPSC's work to help ensure the safety of consumer products - such as toys, cribs, power tools, cigarette lighters and household chemicals -– contributed to a decline in the rate of deaths and injuries associated with consumer products over the past 40 years. Federal law bars any person from selling products subject to a publicly-announced voluntary recall by a manufacturer or a mandatory recall ordered by the To report a dangerous product or a product-related injury go online to www.SaferProducts.gov or call CPSC's Hotline at 800-638-2772 or teletypewriter at 301-595-7054 for the hearing impaired. Consumers can obtain news release and recall information at www.cpsc.gov, on Twitter @USCPSC or by subscribing
to CPSC's free e-mail newsletters.How to Care for Your Raptor 660 imagestrong How to Care for Your Raptor 660 Proper care is of primary importance for lengthening the useful life of any type of vehicle. Riders of ATVs know that maintaining their recreational vehicle requires...Read More about How to Care for Your Raptor 660 on September 27, 2010 at 8:22 AM, updated The Yamaha Rhino roared onto the market in 2003, a new breed of off-road vehicle that first drew raves -- and then an avalanche of lawsuits. Lawyers for the victims claimed the hot-selling Rhino had design flaws that led to rollover crashes and gruesome injuries -- including crushed heads, arms and legs, and amputations when riders were smashed beneath the 1,100-pound machines. So far, Yamaha has more than held its own in court. Of the five Rhino cases that have gone to trial, four ended in verdicts in Yamaha's favor. The only exception: a $317,000 damage award in May in Georgia. The initial results "demonstrate in no uncertain terms that the Rhino is a safe and defect-free vehicle," said Paul Cereghini, a lawyer representing Yamaha.
Yet Yamaha still faces about 700 injury and wrongful-death claims. Plaintiff lawyers say Yamaha cherry-picked cases in which drivers arguably were careless. They point out that Yamaha has quietly paid settlements in at least 40 Rhino cases, some on the eve of trial. An investigation by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, which found that many Rhino crashes occurred under seemingly benign conditions, has provided ammunition for the plaintiffs. "Of the rollover-related deaths and hundreds of reported injuries," the agency declared in March 2009, "many appear to involve turns at relatively low speeds and on level terrain." The agency said it has received reports of 70 deaths in Rhino crashes. Doors added later All told, it has been a rough ride for a vehicle that created a new category of off-road machines, called side-by-sides or recreational off-highway vehicles. The Rhino, which looks a bit like a golf cart with attitude, has a steering wheel and seats for two -- unlike all-terrain vehicles, or ATVs, which have handlebars and are ridden like motorcycles.
It also comes with safety features such as seat belts and a roll cage. However, plaintiffs contend the Rhino is dangerously unstable because of its narrow stance, high ground clearance and lack of a rear differential to help in turning. They argue that after putting a dangerous vehicle on the market, Yamaha failed for years to address reports of injuries and deaths. Many injuries would have been avoided, they say, had the company acted sooner to equip Rhinos with doors to hold in riders' legs and feet when the vehicles tipped. Yamaha added doors in the 2008 model year. Yamaha says the Rhino is safe and well-designed, and that injuries invariably stem from riders failing to follow instructions or trying risky stunts. "Virtually every Rhino-related incident involves at least one warned-against behavior (such as failure to wear a seat belt and/or helmet, underage driver, excessive speed, alcohol/drugs or inattention to terrain/collision)," according to a company statement. Japan-based Yamaha conceived the Rhino as a trailblazer in more ways than one, describing it in internal documents as the "new generation of off-road vehicle for outdoor man."
It was to be the go-anywhere option for hunters and fishermen, along with aging off-roaders wanting something easier to ride than an ATV and the ability to take along a friend. The vehicle was given a narrower track and higher ground clearance than other side-by-sides, good for crawling over rocks and through tight spaces. But experts say a narrower, taller vehicle is more apt to tip in sharp turns or uneven terrain. Problems from the start Rhino sales topped 150,000 in the first few years, but there were problems from the start. In October 2003, just days after launch, a Yamaha dealer in Virginia reported injuries to two employees whose Rhino tipped while going about 5 miles per hour, according to company phone logs produced in the Rhino litigation. During a test drive at a Minnesota dealership in November 2004, a customer suffered a broken leg and ruptured spleen when a Rhino tipped. In Florida the following year, a customer broke his ankle while on a test ride with a salesman.
Company records also show that at least 25 Yamaha employees and test drivers experienced rollovers in Rhinos or Rhino prototypes and that several were injured. Among them were Jean-Claude Olivier, president of Yamaha France, and Ike Miyachi, a Yamaha vice president. Miyachi broke his toes in the crash at the Turkey Bay Off-Highway Vehicle Area in Kentucky in July 2002, court documents and depositions show. The Rhino prototype in which he was riding was being driven by Keisuke "Casey" Yoshida, president of Yamaha Motor Manufacturing Corp. of Newnan, Ga., when it rolled over after descending a hill. Miyachi's injury followed what would be a common injury scenario -- a rider's leg coming out through the open door space either unintentionally or as a protective reflex when the Rhino tips. In lawsuits triggered by severe leg injuries, Yamaha has blamed plaintiffs for failing to heed its warnings to always keep their legs inside. However, in a 2005 deposition, a former senior executive and attorney with Yamaha Motor Corp. USA in Cypress, Calif., testified that such warnings are of dubious value.
"What you do or do not do in a rollover or tipover is pretty much involuntary," said Emroy Watson, the Yamaha executive. His testimony came in the case of Milton Grimes, among the first to sue and settle a Rhino case. Grimes bought a Rhino in September 2004 to haul brush and water trees on his rural land near Bakersfield, Calif. Soon after, he tried it out for the first time on desert scrubland near his home. Traveling about 10 to 15 miles per hour on flat, rough ground, Grimes said, the Rhino tipped when he made a turn and smashed his left leg into the ground. Grimes had nine operations and regained the ability to walk but said he has limited mobility and chronic pain. His lawsuit ended in a confidential settlement. "I just wish that nobody else would have to go through what I have been through -- and other people have been through worse," Grimes said. "Anybody who gets on one of these should be aware they're dangerous." Pressured by the Consumer Product Safety Commission, the company in March 2009 announced a "free repair program" meant to enhance the Rhino's handling and stability -- basically a recall in all but name.