tow bars - Roadmaster Inc.

Jury awards $5.6 million
continued from preceding page
“We’re trying to stop something like this crazy mess that
we went through from happening to somebody else,” Schalmo,
57, said Monday.
Goodyear spokesman Rob Whitehouse said the company
plans to appeal the verdict.
“This was an unfortunate accident and our thoughts and
prayers are with those injured,” Whitehouse said in a statement.
“However, Mr. Schalmo ignored a number of safety issues
with his vehicle that led to the accident, including: failing to
hook-up the supplemental brakes on the vehicle he was towing,
ignoring a vibration in his steering wheel for more than five
minutes and getting out of the driver’s seat while the vehicle
was traveling at highway speeds.
“Also, Goodyear tire experts determined the vehicle’s front
tire had been punctured in two locations.”
The crash occurred on Interstate 10, near Chipley, in the
Panhandle. Schalmo, his wife, Kelly, daughter Chelsea Decker
and Kelly’s parents, Bill and Ruth McClintock, were bound for
Houston for son Jim Decker’s graduation in the Air Force.
Davis TruTrac bars
If your customer’s motorhome
has one of these chassis…
• Ford F53 (V8: ’88-’98 or V10: ’98-’05)
• Workhorse (W16 through W24, ’00-’09)
• Freightliner front engine diesel (FRED) — ’07-’09
• Kodiak 45/5500 (’03-’09)
Does your motorhome vibrate from side to side?
Are “wandering,” “rut tracking” and “lazy steering”
a problem? Tired and fatigued trying to
keep in line going down the road?
Davis TruTrac bars link the chassis to the front axle,
eliminating excessive axle side play, without affecting
normal up-and-down suspension travel. The result
is precise, predictable handling. The benefits are an
immediate improvement in both vehicle performance
and safety, as well as increased driver comfort — more
positive control means less driver fatigue.
Each TruTrac bar comes complete with all mounting
hardware, and installs using pre-drilled factory holes —
no drilling or welding required. They will not interfere
with any factory original equipment, or affect any factory
warranty.
Davis TruTrac bars are available for Ford F53 (V8
and V10), and all Workhorse motorhome chassis (W16,
W18, W20, W22 and W24), Freightliner front engine
58
…he needs a Davis TruTrac bar!
Instead, they spent weeks in a hospital in Dothan, Ala.
Hugh Smith, one of Schalmo’s attorneys, said he showed
jurors internal Goodyear documents, including speed- and
heat-testing results that demonstrated that the tire was improperly
approved by Goodyear for continuous 75-mph highway
use on Class A motorhomes.
Smith said Goodyear is fighting to keep those documents
confidential, and Circuit Judge Stanley Mills gave the company
45 days to make its case for sealing them.
John and Kelly, 49, are back home in New Port Richey,
where they own a site contracting business. Ruth McClintock
lives with them. Her husband, who lived for a time with two
prosthetic legs, died two years ago at age 81.
“His heart just finally gave up,” Schalmo said.
Smith said this case was the first involving this style of
Goodyear tire to reach a verdict. Others have been filed but
they settled out of court, Smith said.
Schalmo wanted a trial.
“It was simply to make Goodyear admit that they’ve got a
tire out there that’s a problem,” he said. n
diesel chassis (FRED), as well as Kodiak 45/5500
chassis. Davis TruTrac bars are zinc-plated and come
with polyurethane bushings for maximum stability and
longevity.
What do our customers say?
“My F53 chassis would vibrate so bad that it shook the
whole motorhome. The only way to stop the vibration was
to slow down to 20 mph — which almost got me rear-ended
twice. Finally my wife told me, ‘I’m not riding in that motorhome
any more.’
A mechanic told me about Davis TruTrac bars. I had one
installed and the vibrations stopped immediately. I drove
that motorhome for another 150,000 miles (with my wife
back on board) and it was solid as a rock.
Buying that Davis TruTrac bar was the best move I ever
made.”
— John Kielty, Reno, Nevada