NHTSA Focuses Study on Truck Cab Safety

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it is engaged in “aggressive research” on technological advances to prevent accidents and fatalities by boosting the safety of truck cabs.

“We are currently pursuing an aggressive research agenda targeted at evaluating forward collision warning systems, collision-imminent braking technology and lane-departure warning systems — all focused on preventing or mitigating heavy truck crashes,” said David Strickland, NHTSA’s administrator. “The agency believes that such technologies offer the most effective and practical approach to enhancing truck safety.”

Strickland said the agency currently focuses more on these technological advances than pursuing post-accident driver protections, such as fire mitigation.

His Aug. 24 letter was in response to a joint letter two months earlier from American Trucking Associations and the Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association.

The organizations asked the agency to “consider the need to further prevent or diminish crash injury outcomes for truck occupants through the use of suitable crash protection systems that protect against rollover, ejection, fire and frontal impacts” (6-13, p. 3).

They said NHTSA generally has not applied crashworthiness standards to commercial trucks weighing more than 10,000 pounds.

Reacting to NHTSA’s letter, David Osiecki, ATA’s senior vice president of policy and regulatory affairs, said ATA doesn’t consider crash-prevention technologies and truck driver survivability in Class 7 or 8 cabs as “mutually exclusive” approaches to saving lives.

“We appreciate NHTSA’s focus on technologies to prevent crashes in the first place, particularly rollover crashes,” Osiecki told Transport Topics. “That’s an informed position for the government to take.

“On the other hand, we believe there may be an opportunity through additional research on truck cab integrity and fire mitigation to improve the chances of truck occupant survival if a crash occurs,” he added.

Osiecki said ATA hopes to meet soon with NHTSA officials to discuss the issues further.

“We believe the agency has moved a little too quickly to disregard the concerns presented in our letter, and we look forward to further discussions with them,” said Norita Taylor, an OOIDA spokeswoman. “Too often, the commercial vehicle driver is an afterthought as agencies move forward with regulatory decisions or actions.”

ATA and OOIDA said that most of NHTSA’s crashworthiness regulations have been issued for automobiles and light trucks, but not heavier trucks.

ATA and OOIDA also noted that, of all the crashworthiness regulations NHTSA has issued, only those dealing with glazing materials, door locks and door retention components, seating systems, seat belts, child restraint systems and rear impact guards apply to all commercial vehicles.

The trade organizations said the most promising countermeasures to increase the post-crash safety of occupants include improved cab structure, occupant restraints such as seat belts and air bags, improved strength for windshields and doors and more forgiving interior surfaces, such as energy-absorbing steering columns and padded surfaces.

NHTSA said in its letter that it continues to be concerned with the safety of truck occupants, noting that an annual average of about 700 fatalities and 25,000 injuries have involved truck occupants over the past 10 years.

The agency also said that, in 2001, it contracted with the University of Michigan Transportation Research Institute to examine the feasibility and benefits of improving truck occupant safety through appropriately designed protection systems.

The study indicated that a large percentage of fatalities resulted from truck rollover and occupant ejection.

NHTSA also said it is “committed” to considering a proposed rule on truck and bus stability this year.

“This effort should represent a significant step toward addressing truck occupant fatal injuries that you mentioned occurring in rollovers,” the agency said in its letter.

Ramin Younessi, Navistar Inc.’s group vice president of product development and business strategy, said the truck maker was working with many groups, including the Truck Manufacturers Association, to address cab safety.

Frank Bio, Volvo Trucks product manager, said every Volvo cab and sleeper is constructed with high strength steel, a collapsing steering column and other safety features, including options ranging from stability technologies to collision avoidance systems integrated with a truck’s cruise control.

Requests for comment from other major North American truck manufacturers were not returned by press time. Likewise, NHTSA did not return a message seeking additional comment.