Personal Injury Law

Deficient Kevlar Military Helmets Result In $2 Million Accord

By Greg Webb

Sioux Manufacturing of Fort Totten, a manufacturer in North Dakota has agreed to pay $2.2 million to settle a lawsuit, originally for $159 million in damages, brought when the company shortchanged the armor in about 2.2 million military helmets, including the helmets worn by the first troops sent to Iraq and Afghanistan. Two former plant employees claimed the Kevlar woven at the manufacturer failed to meet the government's critical minimum standard of thirty-five by thirty-five threads per square inch. Many of the records shows the Kevlar woven at the plant was thirty-four by thirty-four threads or lower. They were also adding extra resin to the Kevlar to bring it to the specified weight, resulting in reduced elasticity and increasing brittleness in the helmet. http://www.nytimes.com/2008/02/06/us/06helmet.html?_r=1&adxnnl=1&oref=slogin&ref=us&adxnnlx=1203113914-DKac8eBzq21l/pghE7+0Yg

Full post as published by Charlottesville Personal Injury Lawyer on February 19, 2008 (boomark / email).