It's always a tragedy when there are fatalities involved in an accident but often no one person/agency/manufacturer is to blame. The cab met NHTSA regulations and Daimler Chrysler conformed to those regs. Sweden has higher truck rate fatalities than Germany or the USA so roll bars and fortified cabs are not always going to save lives. Ironically, in Germany, fire fighting Unimogs don't even come with seat belts! I think there is only so much you can expect seat belts (and roll bars) to do when a fully laden 15 ton truck rolls, especially at speed.
As an aside, I had a nasty blow out on the right rear tire of my U1300L. I think it literally blew the rear wheel off the ground. I was on a very windy mountain road going about 50mph at the time. I came very close to rolling. I'd like to say it was driver skill but really it was probably two things; the Unimog was very lightly loaded, and because the ditches were so steep and deep, I tried to keep it on the road as opposed to immediately pulling over.
I do not think it is a coincidence that roll overs happen on the right rear. After the blowout the first reaction is to pull over, while still moving. The embankment of the road, both the steepness and the usual softness, combined with the fact the vehicle is already unstable causes the vehicle to start to roll or at least gives that feeling. The tendency then is to get back on the road which just makes matter worse. Add an already loaded vehicle (usually in the rear) which are often loaded way too top heavy, and you have the perfect circumstances for a roll over. Driver training can go a long way to reducing those risks, both in terms of loading the vehicle and what to do when you find yourself close to roll over situations.
In my case it was not the Unimog (also not CTIS) or lack of training but negligence on my part. The tires were 20 years old with first stages of dry rot. While the treads were great, the actual tires were suspect. Also I was driving too fast (ironically I had a school bus on my *****) and I hit a pot hole and then bam!, the rear end gave out. Ironically when I finally found a place to pull over (1/4 mile up the road) the school bus just passed me and kept going. One benefit of steel rims is the lip it survived driving on the pavement and I was able to pound the rim relatively straight -still holds air to this day
I don't think you could do that with Hutchinson's.
