On Saturday, June 2, 2018, Aaron Kiefer’s volunteer crew of crash testers, conducted another round of crash testing with his TrailerGuard System consisting of a polyester webbing Safety Skirt connected to his aluminum Rear Reinforcement Attachment (which strengthens the existing rear underride guard).
Crash Test #1 showed some Passenger Compartment Intrusion (PCI), which means the people in the car would have been injured. Analysis of the results showed that the webbing was likely too low and not able to catch the car.
Crash Test #2, on the other hand, was very successful: no PCI. The car was damaged from the collision but did not go under the trailer and rebounded back. 35 mph Delta-V force, 31 mph impact speed
Aerial view from a drone:
Q. What does it mean that the air bags did not deploy?
A. The acceleration was low enough that the car decided that it didn’t need them. So the crash pulse was “long” due to the flexibility/energy absorbing of the webbing. According to the air bag control module report, the car deployed the driver seat and passenger seat belt pretensioners. However, the severity of the crash was judged below the threshold to require the frontal air bags. This is due to the fact that the deceleration was achieved over a long duration (over 200 ms) and that the decleration rate was low.
Q. So, how would occupants have fared?
A. The occupants would have been fine in this 30+ mph collision since PCI was avoided and the energy was absorbed by the webbing and the vehicle structure. the threshold for air bag deployment of a vehicle of this type striking a solid object is 10-15 mph.
Crash testing — especially without the backing of corporate R&D resources — is time-consuming but well worth the effort. Imagine where we would be in terms of preventing devastating truck underride if we all collaborated to get the job done!
“This video conveys, through wide and varied news coverage, the frequency that underrides happen and that a solution is at hand … and it is something many truckers would support. Please share liberally.”
Knee-jerk reaction: I am glad that they finally proceeded with technical studies on side underride. But countless lives have been lost since 1969 when DOT announced that they intended to extend underride protection on the sides of large trucks after technical studies were completed.
It is high time for someone to act responsibly. Either Senator Thune can respond and move the STOP Underrides Bill forward, or NHTSA can act on its own and do supplemental comprehensive underride rulemaking. Either way, many lives will be saved.
If they refuse to act appropriately, who should bear the blame for continued preventable underride tragedies?
Even though the DOT has been talking about the need for side guards on trucks since 1969, they have still not required them to be put on large trucks — despite the fact that hundreds of people die every year when their car goes under a truck. Imagine.
What will it take to get them to mandate this safety feature? So far, the successful crash test at 35 mph into a side guard in March 2017 at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) has not resulted in a Notice of Proposed Rulemaking on this needed safety countermeasure. Neither has the successful crash test at 40 mph, which took place at the IIHS during the August 29, 2017, Underride Roundtable, seemed to convince them to act.
Well, what if we show them that the AngelWing side guard was successfully tested at 47.2 mph by its inventor, Perry Ponder of Seven Hills Engineering? (Which would, of course, change the cost benefit analysis required for rulemaking. . . with proof of more potential lives saved!)
Side Underride Guard Test at 47.2 mph. 44 mph delta-V. Dummy results excellent. Test conducted at Karco Engineering by Seven Hills Engineering. www.7he.us. 850-222-7973.
Let’s hope that this proof, of the ability of engineers to solve a deadly problem, will wake up the sleeping giant to act decisively and issue a supplemental comprehensive underride protection rulemaking to protect us all from preventable Death by Underride — which could, of course, be mandated by an act of Congress called the STOP Underrides! Bill of 2017 (still waiting to be passed into law).
Who will have the guts (courage, conviction, resolve) to do the right thing?
I have read many news reports of truck crashes. It often strikes me how little the media, along with everyone else, understands the underride problem. Last night I read an article about a truck crash which happened in November in Dallas; it was a good example of this common misunderstanding of what an underride is.
A car was traveling northbound along Harry Hines Boulevard when it started coming up on a UPS truck at the Lombardy Lane stoplight. The 18-wheeler’s 53-foot trailer was empty at the time. However, the car’s driver did not stop and slammed into the back of the big rig. The UPS truck’s rear bumper broke as the car went underneath the trailer. http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2017/11/13/car-slams-into-big-rig-dallas/
What the reporter apparently misunderstood was that the rear bumper did not break off as the car went underneath the trailer. No, the car went underneath the trailer because the bumper broke off!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! It was too weak — just like on the majority of the millions of trucks on the road today. Underride tragedies waiting to happen.
At first I was frustrated with the way underride gets reported (or rather does not get reported). But then I realized that this is a perfect example of the common misperception that something about the severity of the crash forces/dynamics itself is what leads to the car knocking off or bending the rear underride guard. In fact, it is the weak guard which gives way, fails, and bends or comes right off the trailer and then there is nothing to stop the car from going into the empty space under the truck.
Or, as Jerry Karth says, to put it another way, “the guard failed to perform as it was designed to do.” (As this IIHS video so thoroughly explains.)
In contrast, see what happens when there is an effective underride protective device to cause the car to bounce off the guard (deflects the crash forces) and allows the car’s crush zone, airbags, and seat belts to work like they were supposed to upon collision.
Improved Rear Underride Guard Crash Test:
Side Guard Crash Test:
The car is damaged, but the passengers are safe:
I hope this helps people to better understand the dynamics of an underride crash.
This morning, Senator Gillibrand took the opportunity at a Senate Environment & Public Works Committee Hearing on to ask Chris Spear, CEO of the American Trucking Associations, some questions about truck underride.
Thank you, Senator Gillibrand, for continuing to move us forward toward an end to preventable underride tragedies.
I met with Chris Spear on March 29, 2017, to discuss our newly drafted underride bill. And I wrote a post in May in response to the kinds of concerns he raised in the hearing today. He asked Senator Gillibrand to encourage NHTSA to speed their evaluation of whether the added weight of side guards would compromise the structural integrity of trailers.
And here is the response to Mr. Spear’s concerns — from the inventor of the AngelWing side guard, Perry Ponder:
AngelWing has undergone extensive standard industry testing and analysis including durability track testing. Designed by a trailer engineer (me), AngelWing works in harmony with existing trailer designs with no effect on the trailer structure or durability.
The STOP Underrides! Act of 2017 has been drafted by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. She is working with Congressman Steve Cohen, who will be drafting a House Companion Measure. They are both seeking Republican co-leads for this long-overdue, life-saving legislation.
On October 12, 2017, staff from Congressional Offices gathered to hear presentations from five experts on the topic of truck underride to better understand the need for the STOP Underrides! bill. The presentations were followed by a question & answer period as legislative staff sought to understand the problem and solutions of deadly but preventable underride crashes.
A panel of experts discuss underride at a Briefing on The Hill, October 12, 2017, to bring greater understanding of the problem and solutions of deadly but preventable truck underride. Robert Lane, VP of Product Engineering at Wabash National — a trailer manufacturer, discusses their commitment to development of underride protective devices for the prevention of underride deaths and debilitating injuries.
A real life crash, where two cars collided with a semi-trailer, occurred in the Chicago area on October 16, 2017. One driver died; the other driver survived.
The 38-year-old driver of the Jaguar and the 27-year-old driver of the semi-tractor were each transported to area hospitals with non-life threatening injuries. The driver of the Envoy was pronounced deceased at the scene. 2 Dead, 1 Critically Injured in Aurora Crash Involving Semi
I don’t have proof yet, but it appears to me that the driver who survived may have done so because his car (the white Jaguar) hit the trailer tires, which activated the crush zone of the car and prevented underride ( or Passenger Compartment Intrusion = PCI). The driver of the other car was not so fortunate, the first point of impact was probably in his occupant space.
On October 12, 2017, staff from Congressional Offices gathered to hear presentations from five experts on the topic of truck underride. The presentations were followed by a question & answer period as legislative staff sought to understand the problem and solutions of deadly but preventable underride crashes.
The STOP Underrides! Act of 2017 has been drafted by Senator Kirsten Gillibrand. She is working with Congressman Steve Cohen, who will be drafting a House Companion Measure. They are both seeking Republican co-leads for this long-overdue, life-saving legislation.
The videos below cover the individual presentations but, unfortunately, the question period was not recorded. Questions about any of the topics covered can be directed to marianne@annaleahmary.com, for follow-up with these and other experts nationally and internationally.
This video includes all five presentations:
Malcolm Deighton, engineer with Hydro (formerly Sapa), discusses their aluminum rear underride guard — successfully crash tested at 40 mph:
Jason Levine, Director of the Center for Auto Safety, discusses the flaws in the cost/benefit analysis of truck underride protection:
Robert Lane, VP of Product Engineering at Wabash National — a trailer manufacturer, discusses their commitment to development of rear and side underride protective devices for the prevention of underride deaths and debilitating injuries:
Matt Brumbelow, a research engineer at the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS), discusses the problem of truck underride and the research which IIHS has done to study rear and side underride protection:
Keith Friedman, Friedman Research Corporation, discusses Front Underride Protection:
Further information on truck underride can be found at:
Hosted by Lois Durso (https://stopunderrides.org/) and Marianne Karth (https://annaleahmary.com) who are working to STOP Underrides! in memory of their daughters — Roya Sadigh and sisters AnnaLeah & Mary Karth.
