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 automakers 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; NHTSA vehicle defect investigations; consumer complaints; and 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. It is NHTSA’s responsibility to make sure that automobile manufacturers comply with federal law in 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.

Two more recent regulatory advances offer hope for safer sports utility vehicles and a decrease in the tragic deaths and injuries attributed to SUV rollovers and crashes.

The first advance centers around roof crush standards, since SUV rollover accidents almost always involve a roof crush. The early standards developed in the 1970s proved ineffective as SUVs became more popular, so in 2009 the NHTSA mandated stricter standards (Federal Motor Vehicle Standard 216). Currently, the roof of a vehicle weighing 6,000 pounds or less must be able to withstand a force equal to three times its weight without collapsing, and automakers must complete the phase-in of the new standards by 2017.

However, vehicles weighing more than 6,000 pounds still need only withstand 1.5 times their weight on the roof – an exception that has many safety advocates fighting for tougher regulations. To put it bluntly, the largest and heaviest SUVs - which have been proved to roll over the easiest – do not have to meet the stricter roof crush standard.

Manufacturers of these “big beasts” argue that putting more steel in roofs adds weight and cost – not only to the price of buying a car, but to fuel economy at a time when gas prices have skyrocketed. New evidence has surfaced that at least one major carmaker has been fudging its test numbers for years. Recently-released documents published on consumer group Public Citizen’s website indicate that, beginning 30 years ago, when the federal government was attempting to establish roof strength standards, General Motors concealed internal test results that might have supported tougher requirements. This enabled GM and some of its counterparts to continue to make vehicles that crush drivers and passengers.  

A second important advance touted to prevent rollovers is Electronic Stability Control (ESC). When installed in a SUV, this electronic system can sense warning signs of a rollover and quickly adjust brakes or engine speed, allowing the driver to maintain – or regain – control. Under federal law, ESC systems must be adopted universally in model 2013 vehicles. The NHTSA estimates that ESC could reduce SUV single-vehicle crashes by 59%, and, once all light vehicles are equipped with ESC, up to 9,600 deaths and as many as 238,000 vehicle accident injuries could be prevented each year.
While some progress has been made in setting safety standards for SUVs, many consumer organizations argue that they have not gone far enough.

• The Center for Auto Safety, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety, and other consumer safety organizations have petitioned the NHTSA to extend the 2009 roof crush standards to vehicles weighing more than 6,000 pounds. To date, the NHTSA has rejected these petitions, in part because it believes that ESC will save more lives than stronger roofs by preventing rollovers in the first place.

• Rollovers and roof crush are not the only challenges to SUV safety, says the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. IIHS is pushing for SUVs to be subject to regulations requiring car bumpers to be a standard 16 to 20 inches off the ground. Right now, SUV bumpers are several inches higher, resulting in crashes, injuries and damage that IIHS claims could easily be prevented.

At Searcy Denney, we have heard the horror stories about SUV crashes and rollovers first hand, because we have listened to clients who have lost loved ones in these tragic accidents. In case after case, we have uncovered evidence that manufacturers knew that their SUVs were 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 arrange for a confidential free consultation.