Rider sues Harley Davidson over ABS equipment (or lack thereof)

[scottfromboston]

Good guys win again!

No one won here.

[OreoGaborio]

bingo

[jcrawford]

No one won here.

How did Harley not win? They made an offer to shell out 900k which they were not entitled to, when they refused they went to trial and HD has to pay nothing. I would say HD won but maybe there is information I am missing?

[e30addict]

How did Harley not win? They made an offer to shell out 900k which they were not entitled to, when they refused they went to trial and HD has to pay nothing. I would say HD won but maybe there is information I am missing?

You think trials are free? Ever hear of legal fees or negative publicity?

I bet HD spent six figures fighting a frivolous lawsuit all because the owner wasn't man enough to either admit he made a mistake or that sometimes horrible accidents just happen.

He got greedy and pointed a finger resulting in not one, but two tragedies.

Spelling it out for you:

1. The rider lost because his wife is severely injured.
2. The wife lost because her husband thumbed his nose at a generous settlement that would have left them in better financial condition to manage her long term care.
3. HD lost because they had to spend money defending this stupid claim and may have suffered from a negative perception from the other sheep (people) in the general public.

[scottfromboston]

You think trials are free? Ever hear of legal fees or negative publicity?

I bet HD spent six figures fighting a frivolous lawsuit all because the owner wasn't man enough to either admit he made a mistake or that sometimes horrible accidents just happen.

He got greedy and pointed a finger resulting in not one, but two tragedies.

Spelling it out for you:

1. The rider lost because his wife is severely injured.
2. The wife lost because her egg got scrambled.
3. HD lost because they had to spend money defending this stupid claim and may have suffered from a negative perception from the other sheep (people) in the general public.

FTFY

[OreoGaborio]

Not only that, why would anyone say that HD are the "good guys" in this case?

"Yaaay! A big coorporation beat the little guy in a stupid, frivilous lawsuit again!"... That's how corporations want us to think so we don't sue them when we should.

NOT saying this lawsuit was warranted or not, but none of us knows the full details except those that participated in the case, so NONE of us has any right to say if it was warranted or not.

[jcrawford]

You think trials are free? Ever hear of legal fees or negative publicity?

I bet HD spent six figures fighting a frivolous lawsuit all because the owner wasn't man enough to either admit he made a mistake or that sometimes horrible accidents just happen.

He got greedy and pointed a finger resulting in not one, but two tragedies.

Spelling it out for you:

1. The rider lost because his wife is severely injured.
2. The wife lost because her husband thumbed his nose at a generous settlement that would have left them in better financial condition to manage her long term care.
3. HD lost because they had to spend money defending this stupid claim and may have suffered from a negative perception from the other sheep (people) in the general public.

Ah right I was not thinking in terms of the legal fee's I was solely thinking about the payout to the plaintiff.

Not only that, why would anyone say that HD are the "good guys" in this case?

"Yaaay! A big coorporation beat the little guy in a stupid, frivilous lawsuit again!"... That's how corporations want us to think so we don't sue them when we should.

NOT saying this lawsuit was warranted or not, but none of us knows the full details except those that participated in the case, so NONE of us has any right to say if it was warranted or not.

Very well said and I would have to agree I don't know everything about the case. With what I know I personally feel HD would be the "good guys" because the plaintiff dumped their bike due to braking, that would be like me trying to sue honda for rear ending the car because my bike had ABS..... hmmm now that I think of it!!!

I'm kidding of course but I guess this is a sue happy world!

[Degsy]

Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (iPhone; CPU iPhone OS 5_0_1 like Mac OS X) AppleWebKit/534.46 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/5.1 Mobile/9A405 Safari/7534.48.3)

It was likely her insurance company fighting Harley Davidson for the money. He was likely covered for her injuries by health insurance but insurance companies go after organizations to try to recoup their payouts. Boston Moto has been approached by insurance companies trying to recoup their costs for injuries before.

[barrypz]

For motorcycles?

Yes, very much for motorcycles.

[barrypz]

from: http://www.iihs.org/research/qanda/antilock.html

Are motorcycle antilock braking systems (ABS) effective at reducing crashes?

Yes. Results from recent studies by the Institute and HLDI compared crash rates for motorcycles equipped with optional ABS against the same models without the option. The rate of fatal crashes per 10,000 registered vehicle years was 37 percent lower for motorcycles equipped with optional ABS than for those same motorcycles without ABS. In crashes of all severities, the frequency at which collision claims were filed was 22 percent lower for the ABS models.10,11 Based on these findings, the Institute in April 2010 petitioned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to require manufacturers to equip all new motorcycles with this technology.

[NobodySpecific]

from: http://www.iihs.org/research/qanda/antilock.html

Are motorcycle antilock braking systems (ABS) effective at reducing crashes?

Yes. Results from recent studies by the Institute and HLDI compared crash rates for motorcycles equipped with optional ABS against the same models without the option. The rate of fatal crashes per 10,000 registered vehicle years was 37 percent lower for motorcycles equipped with optional ABS than for those same motorcycles without ABS. In crashes of all severities, the frequency at which collision claims were filed was 22 percent lower for the ABS models.10,11 Based on these findings, the Institute in April 2010 petitioned the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to require manufacturers to equip all new motorcycles with this technology.

To be fair though, we don't know if the populations that purchased the two different motorcycles had other potential reasons for reduced crashes. Things such as rider experience and the general safety level of the rider, which one might see from a rider that is looking to purchase a motorcycle with ABS. If that's the case, then the accuracy of those results goes down, unfortunately. It's still a very compelling piece of evidence though.

[barrypz]

To be fair though, we don't know if the populations that purchased the two different motorcycles had other potential reasons for reduced crashes. Things such as rider experience and the general safety level of the rider, which one might see from a rider that is looking to purchase a motorcycle with ABS. If that's the case, then the accuracy of those results goes down, unfortunately. It's still a very compelling piece of evidence though.

Yeah, to put down the extra $500-1000 might indicate a person predisposed to ride more conservatively. On the one hand, this is a reason you can't completely trust statistics, on the other hand, 37% is more than a statistical blip.
My SV is my first ABS bike, and I have braked to the limit prior to ABS. I don;t count on it, but I am glad it is there.