The US government on Tuesday began a new test for vehicle rollover risk, focusing particularly on SUVs that are more prone than cars to overturn, Reuters reported.
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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration also announced that results from the new tests will be combined with its present controversial system for rating rollover risk that is based on vehicle measurements, the report added.
Reuters said the highway traffic safety administration is a year late in unveiling protocols for testing at its East Liberty, Ohio, research facility and developing the formula for analysing the data and presenting it to consumers.
The news agency noted that Congress ordered road tests after the Firestone tyre debacle resulted in nearly 300 deaths – many of the victims were killed in SUV rollover accidents linked to tyre blowouts.
Government figures for all vehicles show that 10,000 people were killed in rollover crashes in 2002, up 5% from the previous year, while SUV rollover deaths were up 14% to more than 2,400,Reuters said.
The report added that rollovers accounted for more than a third of overall traffic fatalities and 22% of deaths in passenger cars, 45% in pickups and 61% of fatalities in SUVs and noted that most victims were not wearing seatbelts.
According to Reuters, some consumer and safety groups are still concerned the tests may not go far enough but are pleased regulators opted for a single “star” system over separate ratings. A rollover propensity of more than 40% gets one star, while a risk of 10* or less gets five stars, the report said.
Reuters said that NHTSA agreed with consumer groups that presenting a combined rating system to the public starting with 2004 model year vehicles would be the simplest approach.
“Our main concern now is ensuring that the government makes the test results available to consumers,” David Pittle, vice president of Consumers Union, which is affiliated with Consumer Reports magazine, told Reuters, which noted that the government plans to post the ratings on the Internet but will not require manufacturers or dealers to provide the information to their customers.
Reuters said that, after considering a number of alternatives, NHTSA settled on a “fishhook” test in which vehicles steered by a computer will run through abrupt turns at varying speeds until wheels lift off the ground.
Preliminary results of the “fishhook” showed SUVs, pickups and vans with a high centre of gravity that were loaded with passengers fared much worse than passenger cars and other light trucks that sit lower and are wider, Reuters added.
The news agency said that vehicle makers, who could be forced to make SUV and other design changes, are sceptical of NHTSA’s approach and say rollover risk is difficult to measure unless a range of factors — like road conditions, vehicle stability detection systems or tire inflation pressure — are considered and tests are repeated.
Reuters said NHTSA will test vehicles, including some passenger cars, on a smooth track and engineers will activate anti-rollover sensors, called stability control systems, in those vehicles that have them and pay close attention to tyre wear.
“We’ll be assessing the results of the test to see if they provide any more useful consumer information,” Eron Shosteck, a spokesman for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, told Reuters.
