Since 2003, Gary E. Kilpatrick, PE, DFE at The Kilpatrick Group, P.A. has been a service provider of ATV/AATV/ROV/UTV crash reconstruction and product defect and failure analyses to our legal and insurance clients. Gary is a mechanical design engineer, a licensed Professional Engineer, and he is a board certified Diplomat Forensic Engineer (DFE) through the National Academy of Forensic Engineers (NAFE). He has extensive engineering education, training, skill and experience in ATV/ROV/AATV crash reconstruction and product defect and failure analyses. He holds ATV and ROV rider’s certifications through both the ATV Safety Institute and The Recreational Off-Highway Vehicle Association. Gary has studied the sciences of vehicle crash reconstruction and has certifications through Northwestern University’s Center For Public Safety in motor vehicle crash reconstruction. Gary has owned and operated a Honda TRX 420 Rancher All-Terrain Vehicle and has been an avid ATV rider for many years and is an ATV/ROV/AATV crash reconstruction, product defect and failure and safety expert. Gary travels throughout the United States to investigate motorcycle crashes, product defect and failure claims resulting in personal injury or wrongful death.

During 2008, the Recreational Off-Highway Vehicle Association (ROHVA) with the assistance of the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) began writing the first standard for Recreational Off-Highway Vehicles (ROVs). This standard was completed and published in 2010 as the ANSI/ROHVA 1-2010 standard. According to this standard, an Recreational Off-Highway Vehicle (ROV) is a motorized off-highway vehicle designed to travel on four tires and is intended by the manufacturer primarily for recreational use by one or more persons and has the following characteristics:

• A steering wheel for steering control
• Has a bench seat
• Maximum speed capability greater than 35 mph
• Gross vehicle weight rating GVWR of no greater than 3750 lbs
• Less than 80 inches in overall width, not including accessories
• An engine displacement equal to or less than 1000 cc’s
• Identification by means of a 17 character VIN

ROV’s have one or more bench seats and can carry a driver and multiple passengers. The ROV is entered and sat in by an operator and/or passengers similarly to a car without doors. The ROV is controlled utilizing a steering wheel for steering, foot pedals for the throttle and brake and a hand operated gear shifter to change the transmission gears.

We provide the following forensic engineering services for ROV accidents:

• ROV Accident Reconstruction
• Preimpact and Postimpact Velocities
• Delta-V Calculations
• Vehicle Principle Direction of Force (PDOF) Calculations
• Vehicle Energy Calculations
• Acceleration, Distance, Time Calculations
• Road/Tire Coefficient of Friction/Drag Factor Measurement and Calculations
• Angular Momentum, Rotational Energy and Rotational Motion Calculations
• Critical Velocity and Yaw Calculations
• Vehicle Falls, Flips and Vault Airborne Calculations
• Vehicle Rollover Analysis and Calculations
• Vehicle Dynamic Weight Shift Calculations
• Vehicle Low Velocity Rear-End Collisions Analysis and Calculations
• Vehicle Trajectory
• Cause Analysis
• Human Factors
• Vehicle Inspections For Defects and Non-Conformance
• Product Defect and Failure Analysis
• Catastrophic Component Failure Determination
• ATV Safety
• Standard of Care