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New Study: Stronger SUV Roofs Save Lives

Insurance industry study refutes automakers' claims

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

March 12, 2008

That is according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) and a new study the group has now completed.

The study claims that more than 200 deaths could have been prevented in rollovers in 2006 if just a few more SUVs had roofs as strong as the best one the institute tested. More than 9,000 people died in rollover crashes in 2006.

"We don't know just what happens to people in these crashes or what the injury mechanisms are," said Institute President Adrian Lund. "What we do know from the new study is that strengthening a vehicle’s roof reduces injury risk, and reduces it a lot."

IIHS is funded by the automobile insurance industry but has built a reputation as a respected source of vehicle safety information. The new study was completed as federal safety regulators at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) prepare to issue a new roof strength proposal.

The IIHS study gathered data in 12 states and compared injury and death rates in four-door SUVs.

Safety advocates and automakers have repeatedly fought over roof strength standards for SUVs. The auto industry maintains that most rollover deaths and injuries occur because of the movements of a passenger's body in a crash and not from passengers slamming their heads into a crushed roof.

The consumer safety group Public Citizen has been in the forefront of the roof strength battle, repeatedly urging a tougher standard to prevent rollover deaths.

Federal safety regulators at NHTSA have worked a plan to increase boosting roof-crush standards since its August 2005.

Current rules require car and truck roofs to hold 1 1/2 times their weight. Those rules have been in place since 1971. NHTSA's most recent proposal demanded that vehicle roofs withstand 2 1/2 times their weight on the driver's side, a change that the safety agency estimates will cost automakers $95 million and save 13 to 44 lives a year.

Earlier this year, NHTSA extended the deadline for submitting comments on new roof crush proposal to March 27.

Automakers insist that the agency underestimated the costs for the new roof strength demands. On the other side, safety advocates charged NHTSA should have proposed tougher standards.

The IIHS study sides with safety advocates and refutes automaker claims while adding more criticism to the outcry against the go-slow approach at NHTSA.

California ruling

A recent ruling by the California Court of Appeal underscores the need to protect SUV occupants in rollover crashes.

A paralyzed California woman won a $82.6 million verdict from the court against Ford Motor Co. because her Ford Explorer rolled over resulting in her injury.

Ford had appealed the award arguing that the jury unfairly punished Ford even though the design of the vehicle met the 1971 NHTSA federal safety standard.

The San Diego woman was driving her 1997 Explorer on an interstate highway on January 19, 2002 when she swerved to avoid a metal object in the road. The SUV rolled more than four-and-a-half times and the Explorer came to rest on its roof.

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