Truck Rear Under-ride Guards Fail in Crashes - Poses Serious Safety Risk

March 3, 2011 - PRLog -- Contact
Gregg Hollander, Hollander Law Firm
(561) 347-7770
ghollander@hollanderlaw.com
Kim Sailer, BARD Marketing
ksailer@bardmarketing.com

Boca Raton, FL – Hollander Law Firm alerts motorists that under-ride guards on large trucks and tractor-trailers often fail in crashes according to a new Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) report (http://www.iihs.org/news/rss/pr030111.html). The report was so revealing and the results catastrophic that the IIHS petitioned the federal government to mandate stronger guards and to expand guards for more large trucks and trailers.

An under-ride is where a car or vehicle crashes into the back of a large truck or trailer and slides underneath. The guards were designed to prevent severe injuries and deaths but test showed three of six test dummies were decapitated as a result of a crash. IIHS conducted both frontal collisions and offset collisions. Here is the video of the crash tests: http://video.aol.ca/video-detail/new-study-weak-federal-standard-allows-deadly-car-into-truck-crashes/3546028826.

According to Adrian Lund, IIHS president. “Hitting the back of a large truck is a game changer. You might be riding in a vehicle that earns top marks in frontal crash tests, but if the truck's under-ride guard fails — or isn't there at all — your chances of walking away from even a relatively low-speed crash aren't good.”

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) {http://www.nhtsa.gov} estimates that about 423 people in passenger vehicles die each year when their vehicles strike the backs of large trucks. More than 5,000 car occupants are injured.

"Under-ride standards haven't kept pace with improvements in passenger vehicle crashworthiness," Lund says. "Absent regulation, there's little incentive for manufacturers to improve under-ride countermeasures, so we hope NHTSA will move quickly on our petition." NHTSA expects to complete its current review of the regulation in 2012.

If you or a loved one has been seriously injured in an auto accident or trucking accident, please contact our office at (888) 751-7770 for a free consultation.

The Hollander Law firm is headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, at 7000 W. Palmetto Park Road, Suite 500. The firm also has offices in Naples and Fort Myers. The attorney can be contacted at (561) 347-7770. Additional information about Hollander Law Firm may be obtained from the firm's website at http://www.hollanderlawfirm.com. Also visit our Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/pages/Hollander-Law-Firm/11633340...)  for additional automotive and product safety resources and news.

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