NHTSA signals plan to address deaths in underride crashes

NHTSA signals plan to address deaths in underride crashes

Insurance Institute For Highway Safety
October 9, 2014

When a car runs into the back of a tractor-trailer outfitted with a weak underride guard, the outcome is too often deadly for people in the smaller vehicle. Backed by crash tests and studies of real-world underride cases, the Institute has outlined ways to improve rear guards to make them less likely to buckle or break off during a rear crash. Prompted by this research and tougher regulations in Canada, some trailer manufacturers have adopted better designs. Now U.S. regulators are poised to address the issue.

Three years after the Institute first petitioned federal regulators for tougher requirements and suggested specific improvements (see “Crash tests demonstrate the need for new underride guard standards,” March 1, 2011), the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has initiated rulemaking to consider new standards for rear underride guards on trailers, semitrailers and single-unit straight trucks. […]