Report Backs Stronger Roofs On SUVs
For years, the strength and safety of some auto roofs have ignited fierce debate.
Some carmakers have denied any connection between roof strength and passenger safety. And regulators have struggled to find a direct link. But independent safety advocates have long argued that roofs crush too easily in rollover crashes, causing avoidable deaths.
Now comes a sobering conclusion in a report recently released by the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety that suggests safety advocates and plaintiff’s lawyers have been correct all along. It concludes that more than 200 deaths could have been prevented in rollovers in 2006 if just a few SUVs had roofs as strong as the best one it tested.
The institute’s conclusion is a stinging rebuke of the automakers’ longstanding position. It also amounts to a rejection of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s go-slow approach. NHTSA hasn’t upgraded its standard for roof strength since 1971, despite a surge in the sale of SUVs, which are more than twice as likely as cars to roll over. NHTSA estimates that a plan it’s finalizing to upgrade its standard would save only 13 to 44 lives a year.
“What we do know from this study is that strengthening a vehicle’s roof reduces injury risk and reduces it a lot,” says IIHS President Adrian Lund.
The institute estimates that people in SUVs with roofs as strong as the top-rated Nissan Xterra face up to 57 percent less risk of serious injury or death in a single-vehicle rollover than those in the 1999-2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee or 1996-2004 Chevrolet Blazer. The 1996-01 Ford Explorer was also among the SUVs that the institute said had the weakest roofs.
IIHS researchers compared injury and death rates in four-door SUVs, and tested and rated only models without stability control or side-curtain air bags as standard equipment. Those two technologies help prevent rollovers and the injuries they can cause.
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