PRODUCTS LIABILITY- ROOF CRUSH

During rollover crashes, all occupants, even those who are belted, can sustain head or neck injuries when their head hits the roof, particularly when the roof is in contact with the ground. On average, 6,500 people annually have at least one serious injury due to roof contact where some amount of roof intrusion is present. Over half (3,450) of these injured people were belted. The industry has studied the effects of rollovers and roof crush for more than forty years. The following two film clips demonstrate how manufacturers have succeeded in actually weakening safety standards. The first clip was shot in 1961 by Ford. At that time, engineers induced a rollover of a Comet station wagon. The narrator points out that the vehicle makes two complete revolutions and the roof never collapses. The next film clip was shot in 1988. During the first revolution, the Chevy truck's windshield blows outward and the roof buckles. By the second revolution, the roof is completely crushed. The truck shown in the clip meets current government standards. Ironically, it would fail GM's own standards from the late 1960's. At that time, GM required that all vehicles withstand a 70 mph rollover; today the company avoids setting any standards. Brown says simply meeting a minimum government threshold should not shield manufacturers from liability. "The manufacturers know that the government standards are inadequate. Many times they've lobbied to make sure it wasn't raised because of cost reasons. They know that they have safer designs that could be easily implemented-cheap and effective-but did nothing." Brown adds, "In every situation involving rollovers, the roofs could be easily, easily made stronger for less than ten dollars a car. Same design, greater steel. Ten dollars a car and you get tremendously better odds of survival." 1. Current FMVSS Standards Currently, FMVSS No. 216, Roof Crush Resistance, requires that a passenger car roof withstand a load of 1.5 times the vehicle's unloaded weight, up to a maximum of 22,240 N (force), or 5,000 pounds, whichever is less, to either side of the forward edge of the vehicle's roof with no more than 125 mm (5 inches) of crush. The same standard applies to light trucks and vans with a gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of 2,722 kg or less (6,000 lbs.) without the 22,240 N (force) limit. The request for common and possible changes to FMVSS 216 was published in the Federal Register on October 20, 2001. "The problem with this government-mandated standard," says Brown, "is that it's a static test that pushes only on one side of the vehicle, which allows the test to be rigged with the windshield involved." Once the windshield breaks, as with the truck tested in 1988, then the entire roof is destabilized. A rollover in the real world involves more than one contact point-the left side of the vehicle, then the right side of the vehicle, as in a passenger-side induced rollover. After the windshield goes, the roof loses one-third of its strength. 2. Proposed Initiatives NHTSA plans to propose an upgrade of its roof crush standard to require roofs to allow less crush during rollover events. One possible upgrade is to increase the load crush in its testing. The agency has also evaluated different angles of the loading plate for the FMVSS 216 test to determine whether they may make a difference in roof crush pattern. The load weight testing involves loading the roof structure of the vehicle with a flat plate and measuring force - deflection characteristics of the roof. The agency will also consider whether to apply the standard to light vehicles above 6,000 pounds GVWR. In addition, NHTSA will conduct testing to examine countermeasures to keep occupants better secured in their seat in the event of a rollover. NHTSA will investigate the effectiveness of integrated belts (3-point shoulder and lap belts), pretensioners, 4-point belts, and inflatable belts. 3. More Information Preventing Car Roof Crush Accidents (ABC News Video) - Click Here

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