Volume 3   Issue  36                        November   2004

Global Auto-Safety Standards On Way

 AIADA Online November 16, 2004

This first standard covers door-latch safety at a time of heightened interest in preventing deaths and injuries in rollover crashes. Keeping people inside vehicles in all crashes has become a top priority of safety engineers. The global standard will lead to stronger car door latches and require a secondary latch for sliding minivan doors and a warning if they're open, says National Highway Traffic Safety Administration rulemaking chief Stephen Kratzke.

Based on the standard, NHTSA plans to propose stricter U.S. rules on latches within a month. The agency's current door-latch standard is more than 30 years old and is widely viewed as weak. The new standard is the first byproduct of a 1998 accord among 22 nations to create uniform auto-safety standards. Those nations will propose for public comment rules that mirror the global standard but can modify the rules based on their individual needs.

The effort should raise the safety bar in most nations, as it will for the door-latch standard here. Hatchbacks in Europe will face stricter rules, Kratzke says. Still, some fear the new standard could also weaken rules in some safety areas. Steve Oesch of the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety says global standards will lead to ''some improvements and some setbacks.'' He complains that the tests of auto latches will still not simulate what really happens in a crash.

Automakers say fear of creating a weak uniform standard is one reason it's taken so long to reach agreement and why there won't soon be global standards on some key issues, such as air bags and safety belts. Vann Wilber, director of safety and vehicle harmonization at the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, argues that international rules serve everyone. ''What comes out is the consensus view of what is 'best practice,' so it's better than existed before,'' says Wilber, whose group represents major automakers.

The next issues to be considered are lighting, such as where to place interior lights in cars, and braking, including how to test and rate brake systems. Driving the global push: Most major automakers sell vehicles in many countries. They can hold down development costs if they don't have to meet different standards in each nation. Jeff Wigington, a Corpus Christi, Texas, plaintiff's lawyer whose firm has won one latch case against Ford and settled several, says his research shows some U.S. automakers' latches need improvement. ''Oftentimes, doors do not stay closed in all different types of foreseeable crashes,'' Wigington says.

Chrysler Group safety chief Steve Speth notes, ''In any type of crash . . . you want the door to stay shut.''

Have you seen a safety device you think our readers should know about?

Does your company make or sell a safety device you would like to see featured in this column?

If so, please email the information about the device to Safety Issues.

The purpose of this column is to make your life safer with the use of the latest technology.

Neither Safety Issues nor its affiliated companies are responsible for any opinions expressed in this column.

Thank you for reading this column.

© 2008 SafetyIssues.com All rights reserved