This page covers the biggest trucks specifically — tractor-trailers, 18-wheelers, combination vehicles — where physics and regulation both intensify. (Our truck accident flagship covers commercial vehicles generally.) An 80,000-pound articulated vehicle fails differently than any straight truck, and its cases are built on those failure modes.
Combination-Vehicle Crash Modes
- Underride — passenger vehicles beneath trailers; guard standards and conspicuity rules (IIHS has driven this research) frame liability.
- Jackknife and rollover — speed, load securement, and brake maintenance cases, with the trailer’s physics at the center.
- No-zone collisions — the blind spots FMCSA education campaigns map; ‘I couldn’t see them’ describes the hazard the driver must manage, not a defense.
- Wide turns and off-tracking — the squeeze crashes at Philadelphia’s tight intersections.
The Same Federal Evidence, Deeper
Everything from the flagship applies harder here: ELD hours, engine and brake data, load documentation, CDL qualification files, and the MCS-90 coverage layer — with preservation demands out immediately, because carriers’ rapid-response teams certainly are. Severe outcomes route through our catastrophic and wrongful death frameworks; our posts on how truck claims work and paralysis after truck crashes go deeper.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s different about suing over a tractor-trailer versus a box truck?
Scale and structure — higher coverage layers, more entities (tractor owner, trailer owner, carrier, broker, shipper), and crash modes with their own regulatory frameworks. The investigation is bigger because the defendant web is.
The trailer had a different company’s name than the tractor. Who do we sue?
Possibly both, plus the carrier and broker — mixed ownership is standard in trucking and standard in our defendant mapping. It usually means more coverage, not more confusion, once mapped.
How fast does the electronic evidence actually disappear?
ELD data and camera footage can lawfully cycle out within weeks absent a preservation demand — which is why the demand letter is our first act, often before your first office visit.
How long do I have to file?
Generally two years under Pennsylvania law — with a six-month written-notice requirement for claims against government entities and special rules for minors and late-discovered injuries.
What does hiring you cost?
No attorney’s fee unless we recover for you; the contingency percentage and case-cost handling are in the written fee agreement you review before signing. Consultations are free.
Ready to talk about your case? Call (215) 464-4600 or contact us online for a free, confidential consultation — contingency fee, no attorney’s fee unless we recover, costs explained in the written fee agreement.