It was recently voted "Motor Trends 2006 Sports Utility Vehicle of the Year," but an older model of Nissan Xterra might not be as safe as you think.

In fact, the KENS 5 I-Team discovered some of the vehicles can easily rollover

They're touted as being tough, all terrain and can drive through just about anything, but when one attorney hired a group to test the vehicle.

Some 2002 four-door Nissan Xterra wagon's rolled at less than 40 miles an hour.

"There's a problem here and this vehicle rolls over when it shouldn't," attorney Jeff Wigington said.

Wigington has done extensive research on the 2002 Nissan Xterra

"You would never think that that's a vehicle that rolls over at 40 miles an hour," Wigington said.

But in reality he says that's exactly what his test showed

This accident happened back on February 1, 2004

Gabriel Buentello and Debbie Gonzalez were in a 2002 Nissan Xterra when Debbie lost control on a South Texas highway.

"She drifted off of the road on the left side of the highway got it back on the roadway but was unable to control it," Wigington said.

Going approximately 50 miles an hour the vehicle flipped

"Rolled over about two and half times, the middle of the roadway Gabriel Buentello was ejected and killed in the accident," Wigington said.

Gabriel's family hired Jeff Wigington to sue Nissan for their son's death, which meant it would be up to him to prove what went wrong.

"It has a tendency to roll over because it has a high center of gravity," Wigington said.

Wigington says that high center of gravity is caused by the narrow track width he says that causes the Xterra to rollover when it shouldn't.

"And when we tested it we determined that the vehicle rolled over at less than 40 miles an hour on clean, dry pavement in the middle of the road in the middle of the highway," Wigington said.

The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration also says the 2002 Xterra has a high rollover rate. NHTSA says the small track width can take away some of the stability according to NHTSA's testing the 2002 Xterra has a 30 to 40 percent chance of rolling over no matter how fast you're going.

But Jeff Wigington says there is a solution.

"We made a small change to the vehicle, we widened the track width we made it wider," Wigington said. "So we determined with a wider track width our accident would not have happened."

Nissan denied fault in the accident. They did settle the lawsuit with the Buentello family for an undisclosed amount of money.

We tried to contact Nissan for a response so far; they have not returned our calls.

Online at: http://www.mysanantonio.com/business/automotive/stories/MYSA027806.kens.nissan.6dd4302e