Massachusetts Personal Injury Library
Roof Strength and Rollover Accident Injuries
It is not surprising that the stronger the roof of a vehicle, the less likely there will be serious injuries from a rollover accident. The Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) conducted a study this year and concluded that midsize SUVs with stronger roofs had a lower risk of injury and ejection in a rollover accident.
Rollover Accident Studies
Before the 2009 study, only two studies had compared roof strengths of certain vehicles with injuries from rollover crashes. The two previous studies did not find a relationship between roof strength and injury risk, but the current study came to the opposite conclusion. The authors of the current study by the Institute believe that there are numerous factors that could have affected the two previous studies.
Need for Tougher Roof Strength Requirements
Every year over 10,000 deaths result from rollover accidents and approximately 24,000 injuries. Consumer Reports has made a case that there needs to be tougher roof strength requirements, but the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has been slow to respond.
The NHTSA does require that vehicles undergo a roof strength test, but the standard, which began in 1971 and is known as Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard (FMVSS) 216, only mandates that a vehicle's roof be strong enough to withstand 1 ½ times the weight of the vehicle. This standard was created to "reduce deaths and injuries due to the crushing of the roof into the passenger compartment in rollover accidents."
Critics of this standard, including Consumer Reports, feel that this standard needs to be raised to 2 ½ times the vehicle's weight and that government testing needs to be more thorough. They believe that the current standard is too weak.
Jon Linkov, the managing editor of autos at Consumer Reports, made a statement that, "we think NHTSA needs to develop a dynamic rollover test, which would take into account safety features such as curtain airbags, seat belt pre-tensioners, and other rollover protection systems."
Legal Advice After Your Rollover Accident
A rollover accident can cause serious injuries, even death. If you have been injured in a rollover accident in Massachusetts and believe it was caused by someone else's negligence, you may be entitled to compensation.
Contact an experienced Boston rollover car accident attorney at Kiley Law Group LLP today for legal advice.
