Safety Laws

Rollover and vehicle defect tragedies occur not only because safety laws are weak, but because automakers put their profit before your safety.

The history of Federal regulation and safety standards for the automobile industry is lengthy but, some would say, has had only limited impact in protecting the lives of drivers and passengers. Automobile design legislation was first passed by Congress in 1940, but there was little focus on vehicle safety until the mid-1960s, when consumer advocate Ralph Nader published a damning indictment of the auto industry in his book, “Unsafe at Any Speed.” Pressured by sudden public attention to safety, in 1966 Congress made installation of seat belts mandatory and established the beginnings of what in 1970 became the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which is part of the Department of Transportation.

Over the years, NHTSA has promulgated a number of important safety regulations, which are enforced primarily through its authority to require auto makers to recall vehicles that NHTSA finds do not meet established safety standards. The agency provides on-line access to databases that list the results of testing of vehicles’ compliance with Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards; to NHTSA vehicle defect investigations; to consumer complaints; and to recalls – which have totaled nearly 400 million since NHTSA’s inception.

One of the most controversial regulatory dilemmas facing the NHTSA is the question of roof strength standards. One of the NHTSA’s responsibilities is making sure that automobile manufacturers comply with federal law by notifying the agency within five days of identifying a safety problem and promptly conducting a recall. It has been credibly established that the weak and flimsy roofs in SUVs currently made and sold are major culprits in SUV rollover deaths, brain injuries, and paralysis. A Federal standard for roof strength has been in effect since 1973 for cars and since 1994 for other passenger vehicles. But the current standard – that roofs must withstand a force equivalent to 1.5 times the vehicle’s weight – exempts vehicles weighing more than 6,000 pounds.

In other words, the largest and heaviest SUVs, which have been proven to roll over easily, do not have to meet even this standard.

NHTSA’s proposal for more stringent roof strength standards is embroiled in controversy from both automakers and consumer safety advocates. Automakers argue that putting more steel in roofs adds weight and cost – not only to the cost of buying a car, but to fuel economy at a time when gas prices have skyrocketed. Consumer groups say the NHTSA proposal does not go far enough.  Public Citizen argues that the proposed standard fails to require automakers to test both the driver and passenger sides of vehicles, and does not require a test that simulates rollover. Public Citizen President Joan Claybrook says, “We need a comprehensive, dynamic testing standard that looks not only at roof strength, but also what happens to passengers during a rollover.”

Compounding the controversy over testing and standards is new evidence that at least one major automobile manufacturer has been fudging its test numbers for years. Recently-released documents published on Public Citizen’s web site indicate that beginning 30 years ago, when the Federal government was attempting to establish the roof strength standard that is still in force, General Motors concealed internal test results that might have supported a need for tougher requirements. This enabled GM and some of its counterparts to continue to make vehicles that crush drivers and passengers.

At Searcy Denney, we know this first-hand because we have listened to the horror stories of our clients and, in case after case, uncovered evidence that manufacturers have known for years that their SUVs are defective and dangerous. If a loved one has been killed, or you or a family member has been injured in a rollover or vehicle defect accident, please fill out our Contact Form, or call us to learn more and arrange for a confidential free consultation.