WASHINGTON — Federal regulators have declined a request by parents of children killed in truck crashes to open an investigation into defective truck equipment designed to prevent fatalities in collisions with automobiles.
In denying petition filed in 2022 by Jerry and Marianne Karth, Eric Hein, and Lois Durso-Hawkins, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ruled that the issues raised “are best addressed through its recent rulemaking and the ongoing actions” undertaken by NHTSA as required by the 2021 Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, according to Eileen Sullivan, NHTSA’s associate administrator for enforcement, in a notice issued Tuesday.
Specifically, the petitioners were seeking an investigation — and subsequent equipment recall — into fatal crashes in which passenger cars collide with the rear end of a truck, referred to as an underride, due to a defective or a missing rear impact guard (RIG) mounted on the back of van-type or box trailers.
“The DOT can no longer feign ignorance to the danger of rear underride collisions,” the petitioners wrote. “NHTSA must conduct an analysis, in which they will certainly find that this known defect poses an unreasonable risk to motor vehicle safety and is therefore a ‘safety defect,’ and subsequently order manufacturers to conduct a recall to mitigate the dangers of death and serious injury from semi-trailers lacking effective rear impact guards.”
They further noted that without a government recall, “truck and trailer manufacturers and owners will not voluntarily stop the known unreasonable risk to public safety by designing and implementing safer trucks and trailers with effective rear underride prevention guards.
“Crash tests demonstrate that more effective rear underride guard technology is available, has been well-studied, and would be an easy and inexpensive solution to the known hazard of rear underride collisions to the traveling public.”
In response, Sullivan stated that after reviewing over 200 news articles reporting on fatal truck crashes that the petitioners submitted in the record, NHTSA found that only 22 involved box trailers. Of those, the agency “was able to identify the trailer manufacturer in nine; however, none of the model years could be determined,” she said.
Sullivan also pointed out that a month after the investigation request was filed, NHTSA finalized new minimum rear-guard safety standards, which replaced original standards released in 1996. The updated standards went into effect Jan. 11, 2023, and have a compliance date of no later than July 15, 2024.
NHTSA’s final rule, however, was derided by safety advocates as not going far enough. Notably, Joan Claybrook, a former NHTSA administrator, called the rule “regulatory malpractice,” in part because 94% of trailers already met the standards. “NHTSA has lowered the bar on public safety instead of ensuring it,” she said at the time.
In addition to the rear-guard rule, Sullivan said NHTSA is conducting research on rear impact guard designs that better protect passenger vehicle occupants in more scenarios involving rear underride crashes.
Since the petition was filed, Karth was appointed to NHTSA’s advisory committee on underride protection, which was created to provide advice and recommendations to the U.S. Department of Transportation on safety regulations to reduce underride crashes.
Contacted for a response to NHTSA’s denial of her petition, Karth, whose daughters AnnaLeah and Mary died as a result of injuries suffered in an underride crash in 2013, said she was frustrated.
“NHTSA references the 2022 final rule, which updated previous standards but still falls short of standards that insurers and manufacturers have shown can prevent underride crashes,” Karth told FreightWaves.
“My hope is that they’ll at least do what they said they’ll do in the decision, which is that this doesn’t prevent the agency from taking further action if warranted. If we can get strong results that justify strengthening the rear rule, I hope that will also justify NHTSA proceeding with this investigation.