That's a pretty ignorant statement. A certain combination of center of gravity height, track width, etc. makes a vehicle fundamentally more likely to roll than a normal passenger car. This isn't news, and shouldn't be shocking to manufacturers, consumers, or "safety advocates."
Did Ford know this? Of course they did. Did the people that bought the vehicles know this? In some cases probably not, but they should have.
Or are you arguing for outlawing all small SUVs? There was really nothing unusual about the Explorer's size, configuration or suspension design compared to other vehicles in its class, e.g. Cherokee, Scout, CJ, Samurai, Tracker, etc. etc. etc. that had been in production and on (or off) the roads for decades.
nate