Reuters | March 31, 2009

Yamaha Motor Co Ltd halted sales of three models of its Rhino off-road recreational vehicles until those already sold are repaired to reduce the risk of deadly rollovers, the U.S. Product Safety Commission said on Tuesday.

The U.S. government has investigated more than 46 driver or passenger deaths linked to the Rhino 450, 660 and 700 models of off-road vehicles, mostly involving rollover accidents. "Of the rollover-related deaths and hundreds of reported injuries, some of which were serious, many appear to involve turns at relatively low speeds and on level terrain," the safety agency said in a statement.

Some 145,000 of Rhino models 450, 660 and 700 have been distributed nationwide since 2003, it said.

Yamaha said the action was not a recall but was instead a "voluntary repair program" that resulted from discussions with the agency.

"The safety of our customers drives everything we do at Yamaha," the company said in a statement. "While more than 99 percent of Rhino owners use the product without any reported incident, CPSC and Yamaha examined the small segment of Rhino owners who have had an incident on the product to develop modifications that CPSC believes may help reduce the chance of rollover and improve vehicle handling in certain situations."

The free repair offered by Yamaha includes installing a spacer on the rear wheels and removing a rear anti-sway bar to help reduce the chance of rollover and improve vehicle handling. The company will also install half-doors and extra passenger handholds to keep riders' arms and legs inside the vehicle during a rollover, the safety agency said.

Yamaha suspended sales of the vehicles until repairs are made, the agency said.