Report: Armored Humvees Proned to Roll Over Accidents

An alarming new report out this week questions the safety of thousands of military vehicles overseas. With frequent roadside bombs, the military is increasing armor for humvees, but there could be a hidden danger. Humvees are essentially light trucks that come with canvass or fiber glass doors that provide light protection from road side bombs or small arms fire. Since 2004, the Red River Army Depot has been producing armor kits to keep soldiers safe, but a recent report by an Ohio newspaper shows that humvees are more likely to roll over when thousands of pounds of armor is added. "I believe the up-armoring has caused more deaths than it has saved," said Scott Badenoch, a former Delphi Corp. vehicle dynamics expert told the Dayton Daily News for Sunday editions. Since the start of the war, Congress and the Army have spent tens of millions of dollars on armor for the Humvee fleet in Iraq, the newspaper reported Sunday. The paper`s investigation reveals that 70 percent of soldiers who died in humvees in Iraq between March 2003 to November 2005 were killed when their vehicle rolled over. At particular risk are the gunners who sit on top of the vehicle. There are more than 25,300 armored Humvees in Iraq and Afghanistan.