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Safety Crusaders Seek Action on Roof Crush Injuries

Message in a box: prevent 10,000 deaths per year

By Joseph S. Enoch
ConsumerAffairs.com

September 6, 2007

The message inside the boxes: Please do something about vehicle roofs that cave in and kill 10,000 people per year.

Kevin Moody, whose son died in 2003 when his Explorer rolled over, said he hopes the black boxes will spur members of Congress to hold a hearing about the issue and inspire the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to strengthen the testing standards used by vehicle manufacturers in the U.S.

The boxes, which resemble a bomb case used in Hollywood, contain a portable DVD player that automatically plays a six-minute video informing the politicians of the dangers of weak auto roofs. Also in the boxes are press documents, a photo of Moody's son who would be turning 23 today and an engraved marble slab with a pleading letter from Moody.

Each 15-pound package cost about $250 and Moody paid for all 45 of them out of his own pocket, he said.

16 years of studies

Federal safety regulators at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), which has been working on new standards since 1991, has promised minor increased roof strength test standards within the next few years, but many believe the new standards still will not do enough to protect consumers.

The "216" standard, which has been used for more than 30 years and will remain mostly unchanged even if NHTSA's updates are implemented, relies on a "static crusher" that slowly applies 1.5 times a vehicle's weight to its roof. The test requires a vehicle's roof not cave in more than five inches into the cabin.

The 216 test was created by General Motors in the 1960s when many of the car goliath's vehicles could not pass the drop test standard of that era. GM invented the static crusher, and then adapted it so all of its vehicles would pass.

Flawed test

"The 216 test is flawed in so many ways," Forrest said at a roof crush summit in July. "It doesn't take into account occupancy and it doesn't take into account survival space. Five inches in an Econoline Van and (in) a Ford Escort is not the same thing."

Engineers say a vehicle should be put through a "dynamic" test such us dropping the vehicle onto its roof from a certain height or physically rolling over a car, simulating the violent motion of an actual rollover.

Manufacturers could design vehicles that pass stringent dynamic tests for about $3-$100 per vehicle, said Forrest and other engineers at a roof crush summit in July.

Among the politicians to receive the boxes were Sen. Daniel Inouye (D-Hawaii), who chairs the Science and Transportation Committee, which has NHTSA jurisdiction, and Democratic presidential hopeful John Edwards, whose son died in a roof-crush accident.

Inouye and Edwards did not responded to requests for comment in time for publication.

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