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E-mail this ArticleFive months after automakers voluntarily adopted tougher standards for side-impact protection in their vehicles, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has proposed even stricter mandatory rules. The plan would require automakers to provide head and torso protection for side crashes--probably side-curtain airbags--in all vehicles, saving an estimated 1,000 lives per year.
At the center of the proposed rule are a new side-impact crash test and new crash-test dummy. NHTSA wants to measure how a 20-mph crash into a rigid pole at a 75-degree side angle affects the driver and front-seat passenger. The new test would simulate an angled side crash into a phone pole or tree. Currently, NHTSA's side-impact tests involve a crushable, 3,015-pound barrier striking the vehicle's side at a 90-degree angle at 38.5 mph, which simulates a "T-bone" collision at an intersection.
The new crash test would also involve a new dummy--one representing a 4-foot, 11-inch female. It would force automakers to develop better upper-body protection for occupants who are smaller than those represented by the male-sized dummy now used in crash tests.
