NHTSA Eyes Stability-Control Mandate

This story appears in the May 21 print edition of Transport Topics.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last week proposed requiring all new heavy-duty vehicles to have electronic stability systems that reduce rollovers and loss of control, which the government said could prevent up to 56% of vehicle rollovers and 14% of loss-of-control crashes.

See related story from this week’s issue: ‘Makers of Electronic Stability Controls Pleased by NHTSA’s Proposed Mandate’

Electronic stability control (ESC) systems, which NHTSA said would add about $1,160 to the cost of a truck, use engine torque control and computer-operated braking to help maintain control in situations that could cause rollovers or losses of control.

NHTSA proposed the mandate, which would not apply to existing vehicles, on May 16.

NHTSA and the Department of Transportation, of which it is a part, “have long recognized the potential impact of stability control technology in reducing deaths and serious injuries that result from rollover crashes,” DOT Secretary Ray La-Hood said in a statement. He called the proposal “a major step forward to improving the safety of large commercial trucks, motor coaches and other large buses.”

ESC systems that address both rollover and loss of control would be required under the proposal for all new vehicles with a gross vehicle weight rating of more than 26,000 pounds.

The agency estimated that in the current 2012 model year, 26.2% of trucks and 80% of buses already come equipped with ESC, which original equipment manufacturers offer as an extra-cost option.

Ted Scott, director of engineering at American Trucking Associations, said his group probably would endorse the proposal.

“Generally, I think our membership is supportive of this rule,” he told Transport Topics shortly after the proposal was released. ATA officials will research the proposal and talk to the group’s members before making a formal decision, he said.

“Overall, I don’t think we’re going to have a problem with this rule at all,” Scott said.

National Tank Truck Carriers has lobbied for an ESC mandate for trucks hauling tank trailers since 2008, NTTC President John Conley said, adding that his group fully supports NHTSA’s proposal.

“It has been the policy of National Tank to support the requirement for ESC on new tractors,” Conley said. “NHTSA has adopted for the whole trucking industry what we had been calling for, for our own segment.”

Vehicle stability is of special concern for the tank truck industry, Conley said. The liquid in tanks can create a “slosh” dynamic that makes the truck more susceptible to rollovers, and when a vehicle is carrying hazardous materials, crashes are especially dangerous.

“We are trying to reduce, if not eliminate, cargo tank rollovers,” Conley said. NTTC has worked toward that goal for years, and ESC will help in that respect.

Hahn Transportation does not use ESC on its bulk trucking fleet, but Barbara Windsor, the company’s president, said she supports mandating the technology.

“We all want safer trucks on the highway,” she said.

Windsor said she has ridden in trucks equipped with the technology.

“There are times when drivers unfortunately get into positions where they may have to jerk the wheel or whatever, and this could definitely help them,” said Windsor, who was ATA’s chairman from 2010 to 2011.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association did not buy the mandate’s purported benefits, however.

“Today’s rollover announcement reads like a marketing piece with its dramatically overstated safety claims and understated costs for industry,” OOIDA Executive Vice President Todd Spencer said in a statement.

Spencer estimated that federal mandates soon will push the price of a new truck to $200,000. “The regulatory machine in Washington, D.C., is hurtling totally out of control,” he said.

NHTSA considered requiring roll-stability control instead of ESC, it said in the proposal. But RSC is only meant to prevent rollovers, while ESC adds to those capability features that try to prevent oversteering, understeering and loss of control.

“When compared to this proposal, RSC systems would result in slightly lower cost per equivalent life saved, but would produce net benefits that are lower than the net benefits from this proposal,” the agency stated.

ESC costs an average of $1,160 per vehicle, meaning the mandate would cost some $113.6 million in an average sales year, NHTSA said, based on its estimate that 150,000 truck tractors and 2,200 buses covered by the proposed rule will be manufactured in 2012. The agency also estimated that the regulation would prevent about 2,359 crashes a year and provide benefits of up to $310 million.

For the 2012 model year, stability control technology is already required for all cars and light trucks. “Now, we’re expanding our efforts to require stability-enhancing technology on the many large trucks, motor coaches and other large buses on our roadways,” NHTSA Administrator David Strickland stated.

NHTSA said it expected to publish the proposal in the Federal Register May 23. Publication would kick off a 90-day public comment period.