For several years there has been a flood of lawyers exaggerating claims about Yamaha Rhino ATVs being unsafe and unstable. This mis-information has prompted numerous lawsuits against Yamaha by people that drive these high-performance golf carts in a manner that is, at the very least, not intended by the manufacturer.
Yamaha is trying to get their side of the story out. They created a web site to tell the Truth About Rhino's and encourage anyone and everyone who owns or may some day own a Rhino to check it out. 
It's not like Yamaha is trying to pretend nothing's wrong. They have volunteered to make modifications to the Rhinos that will make them safer. Note that this is a voluntary repair by Yamaha, not a recall. Those modifications include adding 2 inch spacers to the wheels and removing the anti-sway bar.
The biggest issue with the less than 1% of people that have incidents while operating Rhinos is operator error. Most times it's because of not wearing a helmet and/or seat belt, riding in areas not suited for the vehicle, riding the vehicle beyond it's physical limits, or even riding under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
The bottom line is that you have to be responsible for your actions. If you make a choice to ride beyond your ability or not wear the right gear, that's on you, not the manufacturer of the vehicle. What's your take on this?
Rhino logo © Yamaha
Photo of Rhino © Matt Finley
Consumer Safety Reports say the Rhino can tip over at under 30 mph on level ground during ideal driving conditions, trapping and amputating limbs. Don’t believe the hype folks.
Did Consumer Safety Reports also say that any golf-cart, ATV or even a Little Red Wagon can tip over at under 30 miles an hour?
How about a motorcycle?
I saw a guy doing doughnuts in the parking lot by Home Depot last year and flipped his truck. His buddy broke his arm that flew out the window when they rolled.
Do you think they sued Ford? No.
Do you know why? That’s right! Because they were “driving the vehicle in a manner it was NOT intended” when it flipped.
Just like anything, all you need is a little common sense and a little responsibility for your actions instead of trying to blame someone, anyone else when you do something wrong.
It’s not about safe or unsafe vehicles. It’s not even about knuckleheads who use a safe vehicle in an unsafe manner. It is about a very litigious attitude prevailing worldwide. If someone uses a vehicle, or anything for that matter, and someone gets hurt or killed, there is always some lawyer who smells blood in the water and sues everyone in sight. And god help the one with the most money. They are the ones who wind up paying.
Attorneys will not be happy until they drive all industries out of business because a few people have accidents. Usually it is because a company failed to tell them not to do something stupid with the product. If you are stupid you should pay the consequences instead of getting large cash settlements(most going to the attorney) at the expense of our employers.
I always find it funny when people take everything the creator of a product says so literally! Sure if Yamaha says the Rhino can clilmb walls, it should be able to do it, but surely not run through walls without damaging the driver. Cmon people think! 4×4’s and ATV’s are made tough, you are not. You can’t replace your parts, like you can your 4×4 parts.
Actually, the CPSC found the vehicles were being driven within the operating perameters. That’s why Yamaha did the repair kit, to circumvent a recall if the accident numbers kept mounting. People weren’t doing donuts. Calling that statement disingenuous is being generous to you.
The CPSC released a report on March 31 that said they were inherently dangerous on level ground at low speeds. End of story. Yamaha suspended sales. You don’t suspend sales because some kid crashed trying to pop wheelies on ice.
They were making simple turns on level ground. And let’s not forget the recall last year on several thousand of these things because they flubbed the brakes.
The “operating parameters” ?
You may be confused. “Operating parameters” don’t include kids driving it (especially alone), they don’t include not wearing a helmet, they don’t include not wearing the safety harness. They probably don’t include driving the thing at 30 mph then cranking the wheel one way then the other to throw it off balance, but knowing that it can flip over, you should probably use safety equipment if you’re going to get in one.
According to the CPSC, most of the injuries/deaths happened while the occupants were NOT wearing the recommended safety equipment. And lets not go in to how many were being driving by kids! (Hint, it’s over half).
Yamaha suspended sales because they were getting sued by a bunch of people that were in most cases clearly mis-using the equipment, or shouldn’t have been driving it in the first place (i.e. kids). End of story.
Now don’t get me wrong, I think adding the wheel spacers and removing the sway bar are good moves by Yamaha because you know there will always be people ignorant enough to think they can just jump in one, (or let their kids jump in it) and fly off into the sunset and life will be rainbows and lollipops.
On the contrary, they’re not toys and shouldn’t be treated like they are. If you think you can treat it like a toy then the only lollipops you’ll be getting are from a doctor.
I have a 18 yo daughter who as seriously injured in a rhino in January 2008 (south Africa) no doors on -even with safety gear on (boots etc) that boot would have been squashed to a pulp by the bar at the bottom of the door – our family does moto-x and bike racing and there is no way that a boot would have prevented her injury – if you sit in the rhino your arms and legs stick out way past the bars and no amount of gear will prevent a serious injury especially in the case of a rollover as the weight fo the vehicle and the force of the impact would do all the damage – the doors are a help but I think they could be to flimsy and should be strong – some have buckled and bent as they are like a plastic type material – I do think that if products are made available to public to buy and drive or test they should at least be tested 100% – every person has the right to their safety either as the driver or a passenger – but accidents do happen and nothign is 100% bombproof.