IIHS Wants Guards on the Sides of Semis to Prevent Roof-Peeling Crashes

[kscarbel2]

Car & Driver  /  May 22, 2017

When semi-trailer trucks and passenger vehicles collide, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says, mandatory under-ride guards on the sides of tractor-trailer rigs could save lives. The trucking industry, though, says a better solution would be to hasten the rollout of advanced safety technology.

This spring, IIHS has been dramatizing its argument by crashing mid-size cars at 35 mph into the center of a 53-foot-long dry van trailer. It says these crash tests show that a well-built guard on the side of a semi-trailer can prevent roof-peeling car wrecks that are often fatal.

“Our tests and research show that side under-ride guards have the potential to save lives,” said David Zuby, the Institute’s executive vice president and chief research officer, in a press release. “We think a mandate for side under-ride guards on large trucks has merit, especially as crash deaths continue to rise on our roads.”

Federal law requires large trucks to have rear under-ride guards, but side guards are not mandated nationwide. Some cities, including Boston, New York, and Seattle, require side guards on city-owned and -contracted trucks.

The IIHS—funded by the auto insurance industry—and its research arm, the Highway Loss Data Institute (HLDI), have been studying under-ride crashes for decades and have been crash-testing and rating rear under-ride guard protection on trailers from the biggest manufacturers since 2011. The tests this spring, though, marked the first time that IIHS had evaluated under-ride protection for side collisions.

One test included a side guard called an AngelWing from a company called AirFlow Deflector, which was featuring IIHS’s test results prominently on its website. An IIHS spokesman said the group does not have a business relationship with AirFlow Deflector. The Institute said it tested AngelWing because it’s the only product it is aware of that trucking companies can buy that offers this protection.

In another IIHS test, the trailer had a fiberglass side skirt that is designed only to improve a truck’s aerodynamics, not to prevent a car from sliding beneath the trailer. Results with that device were “dramatically different,” the IIHS said. As seen in the image at the top of this story, part of the car’s roof was sheared off, and its occupants likely would have suffered fatal injuries, the group said.

Only the AngelWing guard prevented a mid-size car from going underneath the trailer (photo below). That under-ride guard also allowed the car’s airbags and seatbelt to properly restrain the test dummy in the driver’s seat. Its maker says the guard also has fuel-saving aerodynamic benefits that help offset the cost.

This type of crash, with a car hitting the side of a trailer, was at the heart of a high-profile accident involving Tesla’s Autopilot semi-autonomous driving system. Ohio native Joshua D. Brown was killed when his 2015 Model S, in self-driving Autopilot mode, failed to activate its automated emergency braking system and ran into and under the side of a tractor-trailer rig. Tesla said afterward that the Autopilot system failed to recognize the white side of the truck against a background of bright sunlight.

There were 1542 deaths from crashes involving both passenger cars and tractor-trailers in 2015, according to the most recent federal data as analyzed by the IIHS. Of those, 301 fatalities involved a vehicle hitting the side of the trailer, which was down slightly from 308 in 2014. There were 35,022 traffic deaths in total that same year.

The American Trucking Associations (ATA), a group representing the trucking industry, said in an emailed statement that focusing on crash prevention, not adding side guards to tractor-trailers, is the best course for preventing under-ride deaths.

“Side under-ride crash protection has several complicating factors—engineering tradeoffs involving weight, strength, and effectiveness—that have prevented a consensus around adopting side under-ride guards,” the ATA statement read.

The group said side under-ride guards “would add significant weight and require stiffer trailers” that can develop cracks and wear out sooner, causing other safety issues. It said a wider deployment of advanced safety technologies, such as automated emergency braking and forward-collision-warning systems, would be their pick to help prevent under-ride crashes.

Rear under-ride guards, essentially strong bars, are required on most tractor-trailers. They are sometimes referred to as Mansfield bars because of their supposed connection to Hollywood starlet Jayne Mansfield. Mansfield was killed near New Orleans in June 1967 when her 1966 Buick Electra 225 crashed into the back of a tractor-trailer, killing her and two other front-seat passengers. Three children in the back seat escaped with minor injuries.

But like other lore surrounding Mansfield’s untimely death, it’s not completely true: Today’s Mansfield bar was not a direct result of the fatal wreck. Requirements for under-ride guards on medium and heavy trucks were first issued in 1953, long before the accident that killed the actress. NHTSA’s regulatory predecessor called for an updated standard in 1967, but it was not until 1998 that the federal standard that applies to semi-trailers was updated and strengthened.

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[ranchhopper]

Why don't they make a jammer for cell phones after the engine starts in the car the phone should be disabled. The phone will work if the car is in park or the driver gets out this eliminates the distracted driving from texting and talking. We wont need this extra crap put on trucks another of many expenses owner operators or companies could do without if we could stop the distracted driving. Better yet go back to manual steering and four speeds most don't have the coordination to drive and talk and text this way could you imagine the whining that this would cause.

[kscarbel2]

The Angelwing design cleverly addresses two issues. It provides side underrun protection, and acts as an air deflector to eliminate turbulence under the trailer for enhanced fuel economy. It's a win-win.

Whenever I visit home, I notice that people are driving worse than ever. I have no answers for you there.

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[Swishy]

An all round benefit 

twould B to teach people how to drive

most 4 wheelers seem 2 B in la la land

cya

§wishy

[Quickfarms]

They have been watching Chevy Chase's movie to much.

[BillyT]

What a surprise the truckload carriers today and the ATA disapprove of trailer side shields...they cost money! And prevent the company from squeezing the last ounce of payload into the trailer! The ambiguous "work on crash prevention" sounds good to the public and who doesn't love crash prevention! I suspect they would reinforce the trailer and add resale value! They have almost become standard equipment for fuel conservation,take a page from the race car builders book, and use aircraft aluminum struts! They could even be swapped to the next wagon! Deregulation, with its low rates and wages has removed the term professional driver from the equation and it's up to 80 percent turnover is guaranteed to remove any chance for stability which =safety! The carriers have gotten exactly what they deserved and the drivers and general public are paying for it! Ok I'm off my soapbox...for now!

[kscarbel2]

 

[david wild]

How about speed limiters on cars