Comments by "John Luetjen" (@jehl1963) on "Driving America's Biggest Roll Over Risk - 1989 Ford Bronco II (POV Binaural Audio)" video.

  1. A Maroon '89 XL with a 5sp manual transmisision, 2WD and the limited slip option was the first new car that I ever bought. To my taste, it was under-sprung in the rear so I added some helper leaf springs (which cost maybe $50 at the time). These went a long way to preventing the rear end from falling over in sharp turns, and kept the whole car more stable. Even with the 2WD, it never got stuck in the snow thanks to the Limited slip. It had the same interior as this one. (Oh! The happy memories!) To me, with that set-up it had fairly sporty handling (for a front engine, rear wheel drive vehicle with a solid rear axle and leaf springs) as long as you didn't do anything completely stupid with it. Folks! It's a short wheelbased vehicle with a higher center of gravity than your average hot-hatch! Don't try to drive it like an MR2!!! The engine was an improved version of the Cologne V6 which was used in numerous Capris. If my memory is correct, I would get mid- to upper 20's over a tankful. I even towed my FF, or the family's boat with it, although a sway control was needed due to the short wheelbase. Ultimately I wore out the transmission and ended up donating it to charity after ~120K miles. The ride was very comfortable over rough Boston city streets and various dirt roads. Everything except for the transmission was still in fine shape. Also the small footprint made parking it in Boston surprisingly easy. I loved that vehicle! As far as the stability, there are lies, damn lies and statistics. Ultimately the reputation of roll-overs killed it even though I'd be hard pressed to believe that it was any worse than the Samurai, CJ-7 or the Toyota 4-Runner, and other similar products of the time. I suspect that there was a bit of momentum generated, just as had occurred with the Audi sudden acceleration syndrome and other vehicles that caught up in crowd stampedes. Don't be confused. It was a great car!
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  2.  @TedwardDrives  Curious. Wikipedia says 260 , with a citation to a WSJ article from 30-January 1997. It's also notable that in 1989 the NHTSA looked into the roll-overs, and decided that the rate was similar to other vehicles and closed the investigation. The NHTSA declined to reopen the investigation in 1997. But once one lawyer was able to convince a jury, the parade of litigation rolled on.
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