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Auto Manufactures Do Not Test Roof Cruch and Roof Collapse For Real World Conditions

Ford Motor Company, General Motors and other manufacturers are facing lawsuits alleging injuries and deaths were caused by roof crush and roof collapse during rollovers, most notably SUV rollovers. Vehicles, which have been subject tolawsuits, include the Ford Explorer, Ford Expedition, Ford F150, Ford Escape, Chevrolet Suburban, and Chevrolet Blazer. In addition, foreign manufacturers such as Nissan and Toyota have had lawsuits relating to SUV rollovers, roof crush, and roof collapse brought as they relate to the Nissan Pathfinder and Toyota 4-runner.

The common defense in these rollover and roof crush lawsuits is that the manufacturers complied with government standards relating to roof strength. Many foriegn manufacturers that have a solid reputation for safety, including Volvo, have shown that the current federal standards relating to roof crush and roof collapse, include testing that provides no basis for real world conditions in an SUV or truck rollover.

The risk of roof crush and roof collapse is a dynamic event. Unfortunately, the current government standards only require static testing. What does this mean? Under Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 216, all that is required currently, is that a 30 inch by 72 inch steel plate is pressed against one side of the vehicle roof with a force equal to 1.5x the weight of the vehicle. The plate is angled in such a way to allegedly replicate rollover crash angles. Most observers and safety engineers agree that this testing is inadequate to emulate real world conditions during a SUV or truck rollover.

In real world SUV rollovers, dangerous roof crush/roof collapse may occur because manufacturers do not perform dynamic testing during the design phase. What is this? It is when the manufacturers place the vehicles on a sled-like device and throw them into a rollover, which simulates the real world rollover.

Critics of the current static testing contend that most SUV/truck rollovers involve forces that are greater than the 1.5 strength/weight ratio used in the federal test, that most of the damage occurs along the " A pillars" of the vehicle (which frame the front windshield), often in a real world SUV/truck rollover, the roof hits the ground not just once, but twice, and finally, in real world SUV/truck rollover, often the windshield pops out of place or cracks, weakening the roof structure even more. Static testing does not take into consideration these events.

In many lawsuits against Ford allegeding inadequate roofs in its Ford Explorers, Ford Escape, Ford F150 and other models, dynamic testing shows that the federal standards testing is inadequate, while dynamic testing shows the roof clearly fails to protect occupants. The problem occurs when the vehicle hits the ground with greater force than the small amount of force required by the federal standards. Oftentimes during a Ford Explorer or similar vehicle rollover, the windshield will pop out of place, causing the roof to be weakened during the first roll. On the second roll, the weakened roof hits a second time, causing intrusion into the occupant compartment. During a SUV rollover, if the roof crushes or the roof collapses, the occupant suffers severe head or spinal cord trauma as a result of the inadequate roof.

Some manufacturers have performed dynamic testing for strengthening the roof. One of the more dramatic tests, which was portrayed in a television commercial by Volvo, shows that dynamic testing of a strengthened roof can withstand real world forces in a SUV rollover and protect the occupants. During its testing, with Volvo strengthened its roof, computerized dummies showed that little or no head or spinal cord trauma was sustained where serious head injury and spinal cord trauma was sustained due to roof crush with a prior roof design similar to that of the Ford Explorer. If American auto manufacturers such as Ford, General Motors, and Chrysler were to test their roofs using dolly tests to simulate a real world SUV rollover (note: dolly tests where vehicles are thrown into a real world rollover and a drop test where roofs are tested when dropped onto the ground upside down) the manufacturers would learn that their roofs are grossly inadequate. Similar testing performed in rollover/roof crush litigation against the Ford Explorer and other vehicles manufactured by Ford and General Motors have alleged that the roof crush and roof collapse are grossly inadequate when trying to provide occupants protection.

If you believe that you have been injured in a rollover or roof collapse related accident you should click here for a free case assessment.

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