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NHTSA Refuses to Investigate Ford Explorer

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

September 5, 2006

Rollovers • Cars that Pass National Rollover Standard May Still be Deadly • Feds Delay New Roof-Crush Rule til October • Report: NHTSA Seeks More Time for Roof-Crush Rule • Senators Seek Delay in New Roof Strength Safety Rules • Senators Question Roof Strength Safety Rules • Nader Protests Feds' Roof Crush Plan • Treacherous Treads Still Taking Lives • Ford Class Action Settlement Leaves Consumers in the Dust • Feds' Roof Crush Rule Inadequate, Critics Charge • New Study: Stronger SUV Roofs Save Lives • Ford Loses $82 Million Rollover Verdict Appeal • Feds Delay Roof Strength Rule Again • Ford Settles Explorer Rollover Lawsuits • Safety Crusaders Seek Action on Roof Crush Injuries • Roof Crush Summit Highlights Safety Shortcomings • Feds Ignore Roof Crush Conference • Feds Delay New Roof Strength Rule • GM to Offer Rollover Airbags, Ford to Strengthen Roofs • Safety Groups Want Earlier Stability Control Rule --- • More about Rollovers ...

In an enormous victory for the Ford Motor Co., federal regulators will not conduct a formal investigation into claims that thousands of Ford Explorers built between 1997 and 2001 have unsafe roofs that violate federal safety standards.

The Detroit News reports that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last week rejected a petition by California-based Safety Analysis & Forensic Engineering Research (SAFE) to retest 10 vehicles built during the period.

NHTSA turned down the request after a year of reviewing a SAFE Research argument that many Explorers did didn't meet Federal Safety Standard 216, which requires that vehicle roofs withstand a force equal to at least 1.5 times the vehicle's unloaded weight.

The group, which does work for lawyers suing automakers, based its findings on two roof strength tests Ford conducted in 1999, which the company said were to test a prototype windshield design that was never put into production.

Steven Forrest, a senior engineer and principal with SAFE Research criticized the NHTSA decision and expressed bitter disappointment.

"I am not the least bit surprised due to the obvious political and economic ramifications for Ford," Forrest said. NHTSA spokesman Rae Tyson denied anything but safety was a factor in the decision.

Ford spokesman Dan Jarvis praised NHTSA's decision.

"We felt all along and still do that this report SAFE issued a year ago was based on junk science," Jarvis said. "You can't take a prototype vehicle and make the leap somehow that it relates to vehicles on the road."

Ford has faced hundreds of lawsuits stemming from Explorer rollovers. And the company has been hit with several multi-million dollar jury verdicts in cases in which plaintiffs alleged the Explorer's roof was too weak.

Rollover deaths continue to rise in the United States, accounting for 25 percent of all traffic deaths, up 2.1 percent to 10,816 in 2005, according to a government report NHSTA issued last month.

The NHTSA decision comes as the agency continues to review the question of roof strength.

In August 2005, the agency proposed raising the roof strength standard to 2.5 times the vehicle's unloaded weight, but has run into opposition from automakers, who want different testing procedures.

No final rule is expected until at least next fall and a new standard wouldn't take effect until 2010 at the earliest.

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