The U.S. Department of Transportation has issued a new rule aimed at lowering
the number of deaths involving passengers ejected from vehicles during
rollover accidents. Per the rule, by the Department’s National Highway
Traffic Safety Administration, auto manufacturers have to come up with
a countermeasure for light passenger vehicles weighing less than 10,000
pounds that keeps the equivalent from unbelted adults from moving over
4 inches past the side window opening during a traffic crash.
The new standard will start to go into effect in 2013. Beginning model
year 2018, all new cars will have to have this protection.
According to NHTSA Administrator David Strickland, rollover accidents
are the deadliest type of auto crash. He says the government believes
that the new standard will prevent about 476 serious injuries and 373
deaths annually.
Occupant Ejection
A vehicle occupant’s chances of dying go up when he/she is partially
or completely thrown from an auto during a collision. Chances of the passenger
sustaining a serious traumatic brain injury also go up, because often
a passenger will end up striking his/her head against the pavement. Occupation
ejection is more likely in a rollover crash.
Auto manufacturers are familiar with the type of safety issues that can
increase the chances of occupant ejection and it is their job to make
sure these problems are addressed so that the chance of a person ending
up falling out of a vehicle—usually through one of the windows—is
dramatically decreased.
Our SUV rollover crash lawyers know how to prove liability in a car accident
involving occupant ejection. A few common causes of occupant ejection:
- Seat belt malfunctions
- Door latch defects
- Roof crush
- Poor quality side window glass
href=”http://www.nhtsa.gov/About+NHTSA/Press+Releases/2011/U.S.+Department+of+...target=”_blank”>U.S. Department of Transportation Issues
New Ejection Mitigation Rule, NHTSA, January 13, 2011
Ejection Mitigation, NHTSA (PDF)
Related Web Resources:
Rollover, PBS
Our auto products liability lawyers represent clients injured in car crashes where a vehicle defect contributed to causing the collision.
