NHTSA moves forward with underride protections

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is finalizing a rule aimed at improving protection for drivers and passengers in a rear underride crash.

In addition, the agency plans to release an advance notice of proposed rulemaking “to consider requirements for side underride guards for crashes into the sides of trailers and semitrailers.”

NHTSA made the announcement through a news release on Thursday, June 30.

Rear underride crashes occur when the front end of a vehicle crashes into the back of a larger vehicle, such as a tractor-trailer. The rule requires that the rear impact guards on trailers and semitrailers possess sufficient strength and energy absorption to protect occupants of passenger vehicles in multiple crash scenarios. NHTSA’s final rule upgrades the current safety standards addressing rear collision protection.

“NHTSA’s priority is the safety of everyone on our roads,” NHTSA Administrator Steven Cliff said in a news release. “This new rule will improve protection for passengers and drivers of passenger vehicles while also meeting a critical mandate from Congress under the bipartisan infrastructure law.”

The agency is implementing several other related provisions from the 2021 infrastructure law, including these:

• Establishing a federal advisory committee on underride protection, which will complete research on side underride guards for trailers and semitrailers to assess their effectiveness, feasibility, benefits, costs, and impact on intermodal operations.
• Planning to publish an advance notice of proposed rulemaking to consider requirements for side guards for crashes into the sides of trailers and semitrailers.
• Improving data collection of underride crashes by recommending the inclusion of underride data in state crash data systems and by providing educational materials to state and local police departments on identifying and recording underride crashes.
• Conducting research on rear impact guard designs that better protect occupants of passenger vehicles in even more rear underride crash scenarios.

Side underride guards

The 2021 infrastructure law included a provision requiring the U.S. Department of Transportation to complete research on side underride guards “to better understand the overall effectiveness.” The report would be tasked with assessing the feasibility, benefits, costs and any effects on intermodal equipment, freight mobility and freight capacity associated with installing side underride guards on newly manufactured trailers and semitrailers with a gross vehicle weight rating of 10,000 pounds or more.

The advance notice of proposed rulemaking will be a step toward fulfilling this requirement. It also is expected that the advance notice of proposed rulemaking will inform the agency whether or not to move forward with a rulemaking to mandate side underride guards.

The Owner-Operator Independent Drivers Association is against any push toward an eventual mandate of side underride guards. The Association has previously spoken out against the Stop Underrides Act, which would require underride guards on the sides and front of all new tractor-trailers.

OOIDA has said that a mandate would be impractical and costly, “thus outweighing any perceived safety benefits.” LL