Federal Officials Knew About Ineffective Roof Strength Standard
An excellent investigative report by Channel 10 in Columbus, Ohio, brings to light what auto accident and product liability attorneys, as well as auto safety advocates, have been saying for years. This news report talked to an “automobile industry insider,” who told them that the government has known for decades that its testing system would not go far enough to protect people during rollover accidents.
According to the government’s own numbers, 10,000 people are killed each year in rollover crashes and at least 16,000 suffer catastrophic injuries every year in the United States. The National Highway Transportation Safety Administration (NHTSA) is yet to issue a new rule for vehicle roof crush testing and standards. The antiquated standard, which has remained unaltered for more than 30 years, has allowed auto makers to continue to manufacture vehicles will sub-standard, weak, defective roofs that crush and injure their occupants during a rollover crash.
The NHTSA’s current standard involves a “static test,” which means that vehicles are stationary when the roofs are tested. The problem with such testing is that real rollover crashes do not occur when vehicles are stationary. As we all know, most of these rollover accidents occur when vehicles are traveling at highway speeds. That’s why these static tests simply don’t make any sense.
One might ask why these standards even exist. Because auto makers have lobbied federal officials for decades to make sure those standards never change. It would cost Ford or General Motors about $300 per vehicle to make the roofs stronger. But these companies are so used to putting profits over people that they just don’t want to make the smallest dent in their profits – even if it means putting consumers in safer vehicles and preventing tens of thousands of injuries and fatalities.
Ben Parr, a former GM engineer who is quoted in the Channel 10 investigative report, criticizes the NHTSA for delaying these roof strength standards. In fact, Parr says he told his bosses at GM 30 years ago that the “static crush tests” were completely ineffective in determining roof strength. Parr says he knew people were going to die because of those ineffectively tested roofs. Parr calls it a “travesty,” which is an understatement, in my opinion.
Can Ford and GM give back people’s lives? Do they have the power to give children their father back or a wife her husband back? Can they restore the quality of life of someone who has suffered brain injuries or who has to spend the rest of his or her life in a wheelchair? Obviously, the answer to all these questions is a big “no.”
It is high time NHTSA came up with an effective way to test vehicle roof strength and give consumers the quality and safety they deserve.
