Feds Delay Vehicle Roof Strength Standards Yet Again
Federal auto safety officials have yet again put off updating a controversial standard for vehicle roof strength, according to a news report in the watchdog Web site, Consumeraffairs.com. This one has been a long time coming not only because the existing standard is more than 35 years old, but because of the lives that are lost every year just in rollover crashes, which adds up to more than 10,000 fatalities a year.
The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) is now asking for more information from auto manufacturers, safety advocates and the public about the proposed new standards. Auto safety advocates such as Joan Claybrook of Public Citizen are asking that auto makers be mandated to do dynamic roof crush testing – which means the rollover testing must be done when the vehicles are moving. But auto makers are saying they want to keep the static test – which is performed when the vehicles are not moving. How many rollover accidents occur when vehicles are not moving? Hopefully, federal officials have asked themselves that question.
Tens of thousands of lives have been lost in passenger car and sport utility vehicle rollover crashes in the United States even as this tug-of-war has been going on for decades. SUV makers such as Ford and General Motors are prime culprits in this because they have been fighting a stronger standard all along. They don’t want to do the dynamic testing or put heavier or stronger roofs because they cost more and push up the price of the vehicles.
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