General Motors on Tuesday said it would take steps to avoid rollovers in its 15-passenger vans, six months after US safety investigators recommended that Detroit vehicle makers improve the vehicles, Reuters reported.
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GM said it will install vehicle stability enhancement systems, which use sensors to detect wheel skid and apply brakes to maintain control, as standard equipment in the GMC Savana and Chevrolet Express vans during the 2004 model year, which begins this summer, Reuters said.
“While vehicle stability enhancement systems do not directly prevent rollover crashes, they may help drivers avoid the conditions that cause them,” Robert Lange, GM executive director of structure and safety integration, said in a statement cited by the news agency.
According to Reuters, last November, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), concerned about rollovers, asked US regulators, as well as GM and Ford to improve the safety of 15-passenger vans, which are often used by community groups and colleges.
Two National Highway Traffic Safety Administration advisories in the past two years, prompted by high-profile crashes, have warned consumers about the increased rollover risk of 15-passenger vans when they are fully loaded, Reuters said.
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By GlobalData“We’re delighted that they are addressing this issue,” NHTSA spokesman Rae Tyson told Reuters.
Spokeswoman Carolyn Brown told the news agency that Ford is studying various technologies to improve the stability of its 15-passenger vans. Brown said Ford recommends the use of safety belts and that drivers recognise the vans handle differently than a car. Ford is the largest seller of 15-passenger vans, ahead of GM.
According to highway safety data, large vans are involved in a higher number of single-vehicle accidents involving rollovers than are other passenger vehicles, Reuters said.
There are about 500,000 15-passenger vans on the road now and the latest federal statistics show at least 424 people have been killed and hundreds of others hurt in rollover crashes involving the vehicles since 1990, the news agency added.
