Citation

Bloch BS. Proc. Int. Tech. Conf. Enhanced Safety Vehicles 1998; 1998: 833-846.

Copyright

(Copyright © 1998, In public domain, Publisher National Highway Traffic Safety Administration)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

When a passenger vehicle collides with a large truck or trailer rig, this mismatch is further aggravated when the passenger vehicle continues beneath the rear or side of the taller truck. These are called truck underride crashes and often decapitate the upper half of the passenger vehicle and its occupants. In the United States, there is a new federal motor vehicle safety standard requiring a rear underride prevention guard for newly manufactured truck trailers beginning in January 1998. The 22-inch maximum permitted height was based on 30 mph crash tests, yet contradicts prior National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) 35-to40 mph crash test research that recommended an 18-to-20 inch height as necessary to protect smaller vehicles in 40 mph crashes. The guard strength is minimal, and the test is only a slow-push on an exemplar guard. The new regulation also totally ignores the side underride hazard, which accounts for almost half of the US fatalities in underride accidents each year. Using existing technology, there are many feasible designs for rear underride guards and side underride guards that are effective, light-weight, and economical. Such guards can be utilized on new trucks and trailers, as well as being capable of being retrofit to existing in-use trucks and trailers. Among the explored designs are: (a) the use of Belleville spring-washer stacked pistons; (b) the use of rigid foam-filled convoluted tube structures; (c) the use of recycled non-metallic synthetics, and (d) cable entrapment platforms.