We are grateful that Wabash has taken the initiative to improve rear underride protection on the trailers which they manufacture, as seen on their website: RIG-16 REAR UNDERRIDE GUARD SYSTEM

For the past three years, Wabash National has spent considerable time, capital and facility resources in R&D specifically focused on enhancing rear impact guard performance. As part of these efforts, we conducted numerous crash tests, and consulted and worked with some of the premiere testing facilities in the country. The new RIG-16 system is designed to:

• Prevent vehicle underride in multiple offset impact scenarios
• Better absorb and deflect vehicle impact at any point along the bumper
• Exceed U.S. (FMVSS) and Canadian (CMVSS) requirements

Key Design Features

To achieve our performance objectives, our engineering and product development teams incorporated a number of design enhancements that are engineered to work together, as a system, to better absorb energy and deflect impact.

• Engineered a bolt-on, integrated rear impact guard system that better absorbs and deflects impact energy
• Added two vertical bumper legs to the design for a total of four
• Placed the outer vertical bumper legs closer to the sides of the trailer
• Constructed the bumper legs and tube of a higher-strength steel
• Hot-dip galvanized the assembly

U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2015/0258951 and other patents pending

See more about this great underride story here: An unexpected phone call from a trailer buyer with good news on underride guards