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New Report Shows Roof Strength & Rollover Crash Injuries Related
Source: Public Citizen
Published: April 01, 2005
Some auto manufacturers have said for years that the roof strength and injuries in rollover crashes are unrelated, but a new report released Tuesday shows different.
Automakers contend that in rollover crashes, people sustain head and neck injuries when they dive into the roofs of their vehicles, not when the roofs crush into people's heads. Public Citizen, a consumer advocacy group, says automakers have made this claim to argue against government requirements for stronger roofs on vehicles and to shield themselves from liability in lawsuits brought by families of rollover crash victims.
The authors, Martha Bidez, Ph.D., of Bidez Associates, and a professor of biomedical engineering at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, said: "This report presents unequivocal evidence that a direct, causal relationship exists between the peak neck forces in restrained occupants, which lead to catastrophic injury, and the magnitude of roof/pillar deformation sustained by a vehicle in a rollover crash."
The report, "Roof Crush as a Source of Injury in Rollover Crashes," analyzes Ford's own tests to show that roof crush does, in fact, occur prior to injurious neck loads during rollovers.
Furthermore, the report comes as the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is near proposing a new roof strength standard. But auto safety experts do not expect it to improve safety in a meaningful way, Public Citizen reports. The current standard dates from 1971 and has not been updated despite repeated promises by agency officials to do so, Public Citizen said.
"The current standard for roof strength dates back before I was born; before the age of the Sport Utiltity Vehicle," said L. Mario Lozano, editor of Legal News Watch. "We need a standard that saves lives in today's SUV Nation."
Every year, almost 10,000 people are killed in rollover crashes, and 6,000 to 7,000 deaths a year are related to roof collapse and roof crush.
Read Full Story at Public Citizen