Light vehicles will have to meet tougher roof crush safety standards

Rollover accidents are one of the deadliest kind of crashes that Virginia drivers and their passengers can be experience. One reason is that when a vehicle lands on its roof, the force of the impact combined with the weight of the vehicle can cause the roof to collapse, seriously injuring or killing the occupants.

Organizations like the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety (IIHS) have been campaigning for years to get the federal government to improve safety standards for vehicle roofs. In a victory for safety advocates – and a defeat for the pocketbooks of struggling auto makers – the federal government has announced new roof standards for light vehicles.

The tough new standards will require manufacturers to significantly strengthen their vehicles’ roofs and improve rollover crash protection. The roof strength requirement was doubled for light vehicles weighing up to 6,000 pounds and regulations also state that the driver and passenger sides of the roof must be able to withstand a force equal to three times the vehicle’s weight.

There are also new requirements for heavy vehicles, those weighing from 6,000 to 10,000 pounds. These heavy vehicles were never before required to meet roof crush standards but must now ensure that both sides of the roof can withstand a force equal to 1.5 times the weight of the vehicle.

Officials hope that these tough new regulations will help save the lives of some of the 10,000 people killed every year in rollover crashes.

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