Citation

No Author(s) Listed. IIHS Status Rep. 2007; 42(7): 7.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2007, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety)

DOI

unavailable

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article describes a report on the current status of regulations concerning the strength of door latches, nearly 17 years after the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety asked for stronger rules. One of the initial federal auto safety rules was a 1967 regulation for vehicle door latches. Now it is in the process of being updated in order to reduce opening doors during and after rollover crashes involving mini-vans, cargo vans and 12-15-passenger vans. But the rules still don't address more complex loadings in more sever crashes. Sliding door secondary latches are now required, or a visual warning system showing it wasn't fully closed could be a substitute. Changes take effect for vehicles made after September 1, 2009. To date, no test has been developed that would measure a latch's effectiveness across all models of vehicles. The Institute is still requesting more stringent standards for the entire door assembly.