Could More Lives Be Saved With a Different Rollover Test?

Dec. 13, 2006 — -- Public Citizen and the Center for Auto Safety have revealed a rollover test that shows how dangerous some vehicles are in rollover crashes. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) data shows that last year 10,816 people died in rollover crashes and auto safety advocates say that has to change.

The roof crash test, called the Jordan Rollover System, puts a vehicle on a spit and moves the pavement underneath. This allows engineers to apply the same amount of force on the vehicle again and again, making it a repeatable test. This is important because in order to have scientifically sound data a test must be repeatable. Public Citizen says this is test is "proof positive that a dynamic, repeatable test exists."

With vehicles donated by State Farm insurance, engineers rolled a number of vehicles one being the Volvo XC90. In test video you can see how well the Volvo does with minimal intrusion into the cab of the vehicle (3.2 inches.) Not so with the Ford Explorer … on the second roll of the vehicle the far pillar the second side to hit the roof deforms in to the vehicle severely (11.5 inches.) Engineers said that an occupant in the Explorer would have suffered "catastrophic" injuries.

$100 More Per Vehicle, Lives Saved

Joan Claybrook, president of Public Citizen, said that "NHTSA has once again failed the public" by not adopting a more dynamic roof crush standard. The governments current rule is a static test with pressure applied at 1.5 times the vehicles weight. Safety advocates say this over 30-year-old rule is week and saves very few lives. The government has been working to upgrade this rule with a slightly stronger static test, but safety advocates say the proposed upgrade would save only 13 to 44 lives a year and that most vehicles, over 68%, already meet the proposed standard.

Claybrook and others say that the JRS test on the Volvo shows that automakers can make stronger roofs, and they estimate the cost would be minimal about $100 per vehicle.

The Alliance for Automobile Manufacturers point to Electronic Stability Control (ESC) as one measure to help reduce rollovers from occurring in the first place. ESC attempts to keep the vehicle upright and not rollover after a sharp turn. The government has mandated ESC be on all vehicles by 2010. While this system does help it would only eliminate about a third of the rollover deaths. Automakers and the government also point out that over 66% of the fatalities in rollovers were not wearing seatbelts.

Government Response

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration would not comment on the JRS test since they are in a rulemaking period to upgrade the standard. A NHTSA spokesman said to do so would "prejudge" the outcome. However, the government has looked at dynamic tests ion the past and have found that they are not repeatable and not precise enough for them.

NHTSA has a year and a half before finalizing its new roof crush standard. Claybrook said she plans to meet with NHTSA officials Wednesday and supply them with details from 225 crashes in hopes of trying to get the government to act on a stronger standard.