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January 29, 2007

NHTSA MAY TOUGHEN CRASH RATING SYSTEM; IIHS TO ADD A TEST

According to an announcement by NHTSA, the agency may adopt tougher New Car Assessment Program tests as a basis for determining the consumer information ratings it gives to cars for crashworthiness performance. The proposal “could include, for the first time, ratings for crash avoidance technologies like electronic stability control, adaptive cruise control and lane departure warning systems.” The proposal envisions making the requirements for front, side and rollover tests tougher;
including front crash tests to address upper leg injuries; adding a new side impact test, and adding a letter rating system (A,B,C) for advanced safety technologies not included as standard equipment on cars and trucks.

The plan was attacked by Public Citizen for its omission of four safety benchmarks: “A rollover crashworthiness test evaluating roof crush and ejection was
still not included in determining the rollover safety rating. Compatibility - the disparity in size between passenger cars and light trucks - was not considered. Offset frontal crashes will also not be tested, despite the fact that the European Union conducts them. Finally, pedestrian impact tests, which are done in the EU, Japan and Australia, were not considered or addressed.”

Reporting on the proposal, the Detroit News recalled that in April 2005, GAO issued a report that said the testing program needs to be reformed, noting that nearly all vehicles get high government crash ratings on frontal, rollover and side-impact tests. "Scores have increased to the point where there is little difference in vehicle ratings," the report noted. "As a result, the program provides little incentive for manufacturers to improve safety and consumers can see few differences among new vehicles."

IIHS president Adrian Lund told the newspaper “it's time for the agency to reform tests. They need to do something that will accelerate vehicle design improvements. If everyone gets four or five stars, that's not useful." IIHS “also is considering revising its frontal-crash test to take into account head-on crashes into telephone poles and narrow trees. Lund said NHTSA should also consider updating its frontal-crash test,” the paper said.

“While auto executives welcomed the proposals, safety advocates said they would have little effect on the 43,000 deaths on roads annually, a statistic that has changed little despite years of safety efforts,” it said. Meanwhile, the paper ran an editorial criticizing the “non-productive” proposal as being too tough. “fundamental and wholesale changes place undue burdens on the automakers and are unfair. Adding a new side impact test, for example, will immediately make it appear that many vehicles aren't safe, which isn't true. Cars and trucks are safer today than ever before.”

Posted by MVHAP at January 29, 2007 04:00 PM