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Nader Protests Feds' Roof Crush Plan

Bush 'doesn't give a darn about it'

By Joseph S. Enoch
ConsumerAffairs.com

May 8, 2008
Consumer advocates and members of Ralph Nader's presidential campaign rallied outside the Department of Transportation building in Washington, D.C. today to protest a roof crush safety proposal which they say will do little to save lives in automobiles that roll over.

Although rollovers comprise less than five percent of all crashes, 25 percent of all vehicle fatalities are from rollovers – approximately 10,000 every year, according to the campaign website for Ralph Nader, a longtime consumer advocate who is running for president as an independent in 2008.

Byron Bloch, independent auto safety expert, shows Ralph Nader the two designs Ford uses in some vehicles. One cost $1 more than the other, but is significantly stronger. In the background is Paula Lawlor, director of People Safe in Rollovers and Kevin Moody, whose son died in 2003 when a Ford Explorer rolled over and crushed him.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which is part of the Department of Transportation, is expected to update its 36-year-old roof crush standard in July.

The current standard requires that a vehicle sold in the U.S. have a roof that can withstand 1.5 times the weight of the vehicle without collapsing more than five inches into occupancy space. The test is administered by a “static crusher” that slowly applies pressure to the corner of a vehicle's roof.

“We are demanding that they issue a standard of at least four times the vehicle weight in a rollover,” Nader told ConsumerAffairs.Com during the protest.

Dynamic tests

Nader said NHTSA should also perform “dynamic” rollover tests that more closely replicate the dramatic effects of an actual rollover such as dropping the car on its roof from a certain distance or physically rolling it over.

NHTSA representatives believe the new proposal, which has been in the making for years, will be adequate.

“We're pretty confident that when the final regulation comes out, it will be certainly a significant improvement over what's on the books now and it will add significant added protection in the event of a rollover,” said Rae Tyson, NHTSA spokesman.

Tyson refused to say why the agency will not use static tests.

Some foreign manufacturers such as Saab, Volvo and Suburu require that at least some of their models pass a four-times-the-weight static test and numerous dynamic tests.

“American auto companies want a weak standard that will kill more Americans and produce more quadriplegics and paraplegics,” Nader said.

Independent safety experts have speculated for years that it would be very easy and cheap, around $1 to $50, to make American vehicles pass far stricter rollover tests.

"Easiest fix"

“This is the easiest fix you can imagine,” Nader said.

In one example, Byron Bloch, an independent auto safety expert and consultant, demonstrated today that for about $1, Ford could make a large portion of its fleet much more resistant to rollover crush by using a boxed, closed section above the windshield rather the single sheet of metal the company frequently uses. He brought with him examples of both. The single sheet wobbled when he shook it while the box frame, which he said Ford uses in some Mustangs, held firm.

As it's written now, the new proposal would also create a Federal preemption that would prevent roof crush victims from seeking justice in state courts. Twenty eight state attorneys general have spoken out against that provision.

Many employees at NHTSA and within the White House often seek jobs with the auto industry after regulating it. Nader blamed these “weak” roof crush provisions and others on the close ties regulators have come to enjoy with American automakers.

“It was created to be a tough enforcement agency that saves American lives and prevent injuries and it has become a weak consulting firm to the auto companies, coddling the auto companies instead of caring for the safety of the American people,” Nader said.

Nader ultimately blamed the perceived failures of the agency on President Bush.

“He's always said his main job is the safety of the American people but I guess he can't prove terrorists are behind this roof crush standard so he doesn't give a darn about it,” Nader said.

Also at the protest were representatives of People Safe in Rollovers, a nonprofit that aims to strengthen roof crush standards far beyond what NHTSA is proposing.

The nonprofit's director, Paula Lawlor, has written legislation that would require vehicles pass a 3.5-times-the-weight static test and make those test results readily available to consumers at the time of sale. It also could mean retrofitting older vehicles to pass her new standard.

Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark), chairman of the Subcommittee of Consumer Affairs, Insurance and Automotive Safety has scheduled a tentative hearing June 4 to discuss Lawlor's bill and the dangers of vehicle rollovers.

“The Committee plans to hear from all stakeholders, including representatives from NHTSA, the automobile industry, auto safety advocates and representation from (a) victim’s family,” Crystal Waitekus, spokeswoman from Pryor's office, wrote in an e-mail.

Photo by Joe Enoch

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