All-Terrain Vehicles Face Big Roadblock : Concern Over the High Rate of Accidents Triggers Proposal for Recall

Dino Saucedo turned his three-wheel, all-terrain vehicle hard to the right and skidded at the edge of a muddy pond in San Gabriel Canyon.

The engine screamed as Saucedo, 18, charged forward again and spun a wheelie in the mud. Perched precariously at the edge of the seat, his 12-year-old brother, Peter, laughed wildly.

Neither was wearing a helmet. But neither were many of the hundreds of other ATV riders of all ages in the Angeles National Forest canyon that day who maneuvered in the sand, along rocky trails and up steep hillsides. Between rides, some of the adults were drinking beer.

Capturing the mood of the scene, Saucedo said: “That’s what we are here for, man--the danger.”

Convinced of their own capabilities and immortality, two other youthful riders explained their own lack of headgear.

“You don’t need a helmet if you are careful,” said Victor Lapoinge, 14, who commandeered a three-wheel ATV with his friend, David Khansari, 10, on the back.

A U.S. Forest Service ranger, Michael Mercado, shook his head in frustration.

“I can warn them, but I can’t tell them what to do,” Mercado said. “We have no laws about whether anyone should be wearing a helmet or riding double on a bike.”

In what has become a national pastime that is largely unregulated, more than 2.5 million ATVs have been sold to people throughout the nation who believe that they are safe.

But statistics suggest otherwise, especially for youngsters.

ATVs, which cost from $600 to $2,000, have been linked to an average of 20 deaths and 7,000 injuries each month nationwide in the last two years, according to a federal safety agency. About half of the victims are under 16.

At least 12,000 children under 12 are treated each year in emergency rooms for ATV-related injuries. Of the 644 people who have died as a result of ATV-related accidents over the last five years, 47% were under 16. Moreover, 81% of the deaths involved three-wheel ATVs and 15% involved four-wheel ATVs.

Now, the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission, believing that children do not have the physical or cognitive abilities to handle certain ATVs safely, is seeking what would be one of the largest recalls in U.S. history.

Specifically, the commission has requested legal assistance from the U.S. Justice Department in a recall of all three-wheel ATVs (both those designed for children and adults) and all four-wheel ATVs sold for use by children under 16, according to sources close to the case. In addition, the commission seeks to force manufacturers to apprise past and future consumers of the danger of the machines and to require training of all purchasers.

Under the proposed recall, manufacturers would be required to refund the cost of machines voluntarily returned by consumers, said Ted Jacobs, spokesman for the House commerce consumer and monetary affairs subcommittee, which conducted its own study of the problem and has close ties to the commission.

Commission members and U.S. Justice Department officials refused to discuss the matter except to say that a decision on the commission’s request is expected within weeks.

“The industry will fight this down the line,” Jacobs said. “They have already intervened with the Justice Department by filing briefs opposing the plan.”

Could Be Costly

Such a recall could cost the four major manufacturers--Honda Motor Co., U.S. Suzuki Motor Corp., Yamaha Motor Corp. and Kawasaki Motors Corp.--up to $1 billion, said Michael Bishop, a commissioner of the state Off-Highway Motor Vehicle Recreation Commission.

It could also severely curtail a national craze supported by fiercely loyal participants who have formed ATV organizations throughout the country.

“The opinion of this organization is that a recall would be unwarranted,” said Rick Bates, president of the 4,000-member California Off-Road Vehicle Assn., “and we have communicated that we don’t want a recall to the commission.”

Bates also compared the controversy surrounding the alleged danger of certain ATVs to gun control.

“Guns don’t injure people, people do,” he said.

A spokesman for the manufacturers called the recall proposal “unrealistic” and an “overkill.”

“It will impose a huge economic burden on the industry,” said Alan Isely, president of Costa Mesa-based Specialty Vehicles Institute of America, a nonprofit safety group funded by the manufacturers of ATVs and other off-road vehicles. “It would also amount to an invitation for people to turn in their old, trashed bikes for cash.”

‘Risk Takers’

Isely, as well as Bates, said that ATVs are safe with proper training and parental supervision. Problems arise, Isely said, when “risk takers” ride them irresponsibly, fail to heed warnings about the use of proper attire and headgear or ride without parental supervision.

What is more, Isely said, the Specialty Vehicles Institute has already taken steps that could make a recall unnecessary, including drafting a package of state legislation aimed at curbing abuses of irresponsible riders.

That package formed the basis of a state bill submitted in March by Assemblywoman Doris Allen (R-Cypress). If the bill becomes law, it would require that:

- All adult ATV operators on public land be certified as having passed a safety course.

- Operators under 18 be certified, taking a course or supervised by a certified adult.

- Operators under 14 be supervised by a certified adult at all times.

- Make wearing of helmets mandatory and prohibit the carrying of passengers.

“That’s not enough,” said Anne Graham, a consumer product safety commissioner. “Our research shows that these machines (three-wheelers and four-wheelers) have unique handling characteristics that can and do result in loss of control under routine driving conditions. Many accidents result from normal use, not misuse.”

Essentially, the commission and other safety groups allege that riders can lose control and even flip their machines when they strike ruts in roads, rocks or ditches. Many injuries occur when inexperienced riders instinctively put their feet on the ground in an attempt to stop or turn, they say. In such cases, the rear wheel is likely to run up the back of the leg, flipping the vehicle and throwing off the rider.

“This is the most serious issue ever to face this commission,” Graham said.

Some ATV riding instructors agreed with the commission’s findings.

“No one is competent on a three-wheeler,” said Steven Harris, 43, co-owner of an ATV riding school near Palm Springs. “When you make an error, it turns right or left and rolls literally right over you.”

‘Riding Too Fast’

Harris, a former surfer with years of experience riding motorcycles and ATVs, added, however, that “most accidents I have seen were from riding too fast, although getting stoned and going too fast brings down a lot of them.”

William Vernon, chief resource ranger for the U.S. Bureau of Land Management’s El Centro office, which oversees ATV activities at Imperial Sand Dunes Recreation Area near Brawley, was more blunt:

“I am getting sick and tired of seeing people hurt and broken for sheer silliness on these things. Last year we had a 5-year-old kid killed in front of his parents when a three wheeler flipped over on him.”

Vernon, who said he has given first-aid to many victims of ATV accidents in the last 10 years, added: “I don’t believe that children have the knowledge or experience to understand the speed, horsepower and mechanics of these things.”

Go to Hospital

The injured from Imperial Sand Dunes go to Pioneer Memorial Hospital in Brawley where about 25 people are treated each weekend for ATV-related injuries, said emergency room supervisor Betty Benggeli. On holiday weekends such as Thanksgiving, “we see 60 to 70 patients--almost every one of which are (from) ATV accidents,” she said.

“About half those patients are under 16 . . . with chest and facial injuries,” Benggeli said. “There is no excuse for them to be out there without protective gear or helmets or proper training.”

The Consumer Product Safety Commission members contended that the Specialty Vehicles Institute has failed to live up to its earlier promise of training up to 40,000 ATV riders nationwide by 1985.

That point was emphasized in a letter to the institute dated March 30. It was signed by Graham and the two other members of the commission, Terrence Scanlon and Carol Dawson.

Training Figure

“As of last September, they had trained only 3,000 to 5,000 riders,” Graham said in a telephone interview. “That’s less than 1/10 of 1% of the ATV riders in the nation.”

“We have fulfilled our promise to provide 1,000 instructors capable of training 40,000 riders,” Isely said. “But we found there wasn’t the voluntary enrollment in our courses we had hoped for.”

Added Isely: “Therefore, we have turned to the model state legislation that would set up a state-mandated and controlled rider safety certification program. . . . We have also turned to video tapes and print media for safety programs that have reached literally millions of riders.”

“If that’s true, it is an even more grievous indictment of the vehicle because it says that those educational programs are simply not working,” said Stuart Statler, a former member of the commission. “If the deaths and injuries continue at their current alarming rate, something far more effective than visual aids needs to be brought to bear.”

Added Statler: “This is an implicit concession that the design of the vehicle itself is at fault.”

Should Not Ride

Some medical associations even contend that children should not ride them at all, regardless of whether they have been trained.

“We would like to see children under 16 totally removed from the use of ATVs, with no compromises on that score,” said Dr. Joseph Greensher, spokesman for the American Academy of Pediatrics in Washington. “But there has been constant pressure from the industry that these products are safe and that adults are responsible for supervising their kids--it’s hard to counter the advertising and to counter the (ATV) culture that is out there.”

“I think it is a tragedy that any child should drive one of these things--there are better ways to amuse yourself,” added Dr. George Trager, who headed a study of the problem at Desert Hospital in Palm Springs.

Yearly Fund

Lee Chauvet is taking steps to make riding ATVs a safer sport as deputy director of the state Department of Parks and Recreation Off-highway Vehicle Division. The division administers a yearly fund of $10 million obtained from 1% of the gasoline sales tax and sales of ATV registration stickers, which cost $20 each. The money is used to build and maintain state-operated off-road recreation areas, as well as ATV safety programs.

Chauvet, who calls the recall proposal an “overreaction,” said his division plans to implement safety regulations in the coming year at state parks that will require the use of helmets for riders and flags on ATV machines that could reduce collisions by making the ATVs easier to see.

As it stands, at least 300 lawsuits have been filed nationwide on behalf of injured or killed ATV riders, said Charmaine Magoteau, a spokeswoman for the Knoxville, Tenn.-based ATV Litigation Group, a group of plaintiffs’ attorneys promoting rights of ATV victims.

“Honda is a formidable opponent--they have the money and the biggest share of the market,” Magoteau said. “They have a significant amount of money to contribute to the defense of these lawsuits.”

The average plaintiffs are “people of average means,” Magoteau said, “who could never outspend a company such as Honda on their own. . . . They are very tough defendants.”