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NHTSA Caves to Ford Demands, Removes Roof-Strength Documents from Web Site

By Joe Benton
ConsumerAffairs.com

May 4, 2005
Federal auto-safety regulators at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have caved in to Ford Motor Company demands that the agency remove documents on vehicle roof design from the NHTSA Web site.

Rollovers • Feds Delay New Roof-Crush Rule til October • Report: NHTSA Seeks More Time for Roof-Crush Rule • Senators Seek Delay in New Roof Strength Safety Rules • Senators Question Roof Strength Safety Rules • Nader Protests Feds' Roof Crush Plan • Treacherous Treads Still Taking Lives • Ford Class Action Settlement Leaves Consumers in the Dust • Feds' Roof Crush Rule Inadequate, Critics Charge • New Study: Stronger SUV Roofs Save Lives • Ford Loses $82 Million Rollover Verdict Appeal • Feds Delay Roof Strength Rule Again • Ford Settles Explorer Rollover Lawsuits • Safety Crusaders Seek Action on Roof Crush Injuries • Roof Crush Summit Highlights Safety Shortcomings • Feds Ignore Roof Crush Conference • Feds Delay New Roof Strength Rule • GM to Offer Rollover Airbags, Ford to Strengthen Roofs • Safety Groups Want Earlier Stability Control Rule --- • More about Rollovers ...

The documents were used in a Florida wrongful-death trial that ended with a $10 million judgment against Ford.

The disputed documents include an internal report from Ford that suggests the automaker and its Volvo subsidiary held differing views of the importance of sturdy roofs as a safety feature. The documents strongly suggest that the Swedish automaker and its parent company, Ford, were at odds over the issue of roof structure.

NHTSA on Friday removed the documents from a Web site of public comments on proposed changes in the federal standard for roof strength in passenger vehicles. Ford requested the material be removed, stating that a court order in a wrongful-death case in Florida barred their release and that the disclosure would cause "irreparable" harm and could reveal trade secrets.

The document removal comes as NHTSA attempts to craft a tougher vehicle roof-strength standard, a move opposed by Ford and other major automakers who say roof strength has little effect on occupant injuries in rollover accidents.

Roof collapse in vehicle rollovers may cause or contribute to as many as 6,900 serious and fatal injuries per year, according to NHTSA estimates. Safety advocates say the current roof crush standard, adopted in 1971, was too weak then and is grossly inadequate now given the popularity of top-heavy pickups and SUVs.

The Ford and Volvo documents had been posted for about 24 hours on the NHTSA site when Ford requested their removal.

The documents were submitted to NHTSA by Sean Kane, a Massachusetts-based safety consultant who often works with plaintiffs in automotive liability cases. Kane said in March that he and others obtained copies of the papers from public court files in Duval County, Fla., where they were exhibits in a wrongful-death case involving a Ford Explorer.

A jury in Jacksonville, Fla., on March 18 ordered Ford to pay damages of $10.2 million to the husband of Claire Duncan, 26, who died after her 2000 Ford Explorer rolled and the roof collapsed. The Duncan family lawyers sought to prove with the documents that Ford skimped on safety and that its public position on roof strength was undercut by Volvo's.

Ford had produced the documents to the Duncan lawyers under a protective order that barred them from publicly releasing the documents. But the papers were stored in court files after the case ended. Realizing that people were copying the documents, Ford filed a motion April 22 to enforce the protective order.

The Volvo documents reflect the company's concern about increasing roof strength for the new Volvo XC-90 SUV, along with improving seat belts to hold passengers firmly in place in a rollover. The documents discussed the development of more advanced tests to see how roofs perform in rollovers.

The roof of the Volvo SUV is more than twice as strong as required by the federal standard, the Swedish company has previously said.

Ford told NHTSA in its letter Friday that the documents could expose trade secrets, such as "the strategies by which new technological advancements are introduced."

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