US Regulators Seek To Upgrade Crash Safety Ratings and Test Dummies
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (“NHTSA”) has recently proposed to update its five-star crash-test rating system to account for changes in technology. The proposal was motivated in part by an increase in highway fatalities—despite a general decrease in such deaths over the past decade, the fatality rate rose by 8.1% in the first half of 2015. The NHTSA proposal would, for example, add a test that simulates frontal collisions from an angle (some of the deadliest highway crashes), give credit for the use of advanced crash-avoidance technology, and adopt the use of high-tech test dummies to provide more accurate data during tests. Industry and safety groups are to provide comments on the proposal in the next 60 days, with a final rule expected by the end of 2016. The changes are to go into effect in 2019.
