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Oversight on Passenger Vehicle Roof Strength S. HRG. 110–1161 OVERSIGHT ON PASSENGER VEHICLE ROOF STRENGTH HEARING BEFORE THE SUBCOMMITTEE ON CONSUMER AFFAIRS, INSURANCE, AND AUTOMOTIVE SAFETY OF THE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION UNITED STATES SENATE ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION JUNE 4, 2008 Printed for the use of the Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation ( U.S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE 75–609 PDF WASHINGTON : 2012 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U.S. Government Printing Office Internet: bookstore.gpo.gov Phone: toll free (866) 512–1800; DC area (202) 512–1800 Fax: (202) 512–2104 Mail: Stop IDCC, Washington, DC 20402–0001 VerDate Nov 24 2008 11:24 Aug 23, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 5011 Sfmt 5011 S:\GPO\DOCS\75609.TXT JACKIE SENATE COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION ONE HUNDRED TENTH CONGRESS SECOND SESSION DANIEL K. INOUYE, Hawaii, Chairman JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West Virginia TED STEVENS, Alaska, Vice Chairman JOHN F. KERRY, Massachusetts JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona BYRON L. DORGAN, North Dakota KAY BAILEY HUTCHISON, Texas BARBARA BOXER, California OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, Maine BILL NELSON, Florida GORDON H. SMITH, Oregon MARIA CANTWELL, Washington JOHN ENSIGN, Nevada FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire MARK PRYOR, Arkansas JIM DEMINT, South Carolina THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware DAVID VITTER, Louisiana CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri JOHN THUNE, South Dakota AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi MARGARET L. CUMMISKY, Democratic Staff Director and Chief Counsel LILA HARPER HELMS, Democratic Deputy Staff Director and Policy Director CHRISTINE D. KURTH, Republican Staff Director, and General Counsel PAUL NAGLE, Republican Chief Counsel SUBCOMMITTEE ON CONSUMER AFFAIRS, INSURANCE, AND AUTOMOTIVE SAFETY MARK PRYOR, Arkansas, Chairman JOHN E. SUNUNU, New Hampshire, JOHN D. ROCKEFELLER IV, West Virginia Ranking BILL NELSON, Florida JOHN MCCAIN, Arizona MARIA CANTWELL, Washington OLYMPIA J. SNOWE, Maine FRANK R. LAUTENBERG, New Jersey GORDON H. SMITH, Oregon THOMAS R. CARPER, Delaware DAVID VITTER, Louisiana CLAIRE MCCASKILL, Missouri JOHN THUNE, South Dakota AMY KLOBUCHAR, Minnesota ROGER F. WICKER, Mississippi (II) VerDate Nov 24 2008 11:24 Aug 23, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00002 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\75609.TXT JACKIE C O N T E N T S Page Hearing held on June 4, 2008 ................................................................................. 1 Statement of Senator Pryor .................................................................................... 1 Statement of Senator McCaskill ............................................................................. 13 WITNESSES Claybrook, Hon. Joan B., President, Public Citizen ............................................. 67 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 69 Coburn, M.D., Hon. Tom, U.S. Senator from Oklahoma ...................................... 3 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 6 Garcia, Dr. David A., Independent Contractor and Public Speaker .................... 18 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 20 Gillan, Jacqueline S., Vice President, Advocates for Highway and Auto Safety 118 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 119 Ports, Jr., James F., Deputy Administrator, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, DOT; accompanied by Stephen R. Kratzke, Associate Ad- ministrator for Rulemaking, NHTSA, DOT ....................................................... 9 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 10 Oesch, Stephen L., Senior Vice President, Insurer and Government Relations, Insurance Institute for Highway Safety ............................................................. 28 Letter, dated June 18, 2008 to Senator Pryor ................................................ 154 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 30 Stanton, Michael J., President and CEO, Association of International Auto- mobile Manufacturers, Inc. ................................................................................. 114 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 116 Strassburger, Robert, Vice President, Vehicle Safety and Harmonization, Alli- ance of Automobile Manufacturers, Inc. ............................................................ 57 Prepared statement .......................................................................................... 59 APPENDIX Article, dated March 14, 2008, entitled, ‘‘Why the NHTSA Proposal for FMVSS 216 on Roof Crush Must Include At Least a Strength-to-Weight Ratio of 4.0 and Dynamic Roolover Testing, and Must Not Include ‘‘Preemp- tion’’ Which Would Deprive Injured Victims,’’ by Byron Bloch, Independent Consultant in Auto Safety Design and Vehicle Crashworthiness .................... 152 Letter to Senator Pryor from Brandon Bloch, Concerned Driver ........................ 151 Response to written questions submitted to James F. Ports, Jr. by: .................. Hon. Claire McCaskill ...................................................................................... 166 Hon. Mark Pryor ............................................................................................... 163 Hon. John D. Rockefeller IV ............................................................................ 168 (III) VerDate Nov 24 2008 11:24 Aug 23, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00003 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\75609.TXT JACKIE VerDate Nov 24 2008 11:24 Aug 23, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00004 Fmt 5904 Sfmt 5904 S:\GPO\DOCS\75609.TXT JACKIE OVERSIGHT ON PASSENGER VEHICLE ROOF STRENGTH WEDNESDAY, JUNE 4, 2008 U.S. SENATE, SUBCOMMITTEE ON CONSUMER AFFAIRS, INSURANCE, AND AUTOMOTIVE SAFETY, COMMITTEE ON COMMERCE, SCIENCE, AND TRANSPORTATION, Washington, DC. The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 10 a.m. in room SR–253, Russell Senate Office Building, Hon. Mark Pryor, Chair- man of the Subcommittee, presiding. OPENING STATEMENT OF HON. MARK PRYOR, U.S. SENATOR FROM ARKANSAS Senator PRYOR. Let’s go ahead and call the meeting to order. I’d like to welcome everyone here today, especially Senator Coburn. We’re going to let him go first. But, let me just give, if I may, give a brief opening statement. I know that Senator Coburn has other commitments he has to get to. Today we’re going to talk about automobile safety, and we’ll focus on the NHTSA rulemaking on vehicle roof strength standards to protect automobile passengers in the event of rollover accidents. The hearing will look at the biomechanics and what actually oc- curs in a rollover, the relationship between the vehicle roof strength and the occupant injury risk, the history and efficacy of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s roof strength standard in improving vehicle safety, and a review of the January 30, 2008, Supplemental Notice of Proposed Rulemaking. The agen- cy’s deadline for issuing the final rule is July 1 of this year—which is just in—what, I guess 4 weeks from now or less—with a legally permissible extension, if necessary. Just in terms of background, this agency has the responsibility of trying to make our vehicles safer, and thousands of Americans are killed and injured each year in motor vehicle accidents. The agency reported that—42,642 highway-related fatalities and 2,575,000 injuries in 2006. Of the 42,000 fatalities, about 10,000— a little more than 10,000 were killed by rollover crashes, and 2,007 people sustained injuries due to rollover crashes. The majority of rollovers occur when a driver loses control of the vehicle, causing the vehicle to begin sliding sideways. Typically, something triggers the vehicle to begin rolling. The trigger could be a tripping object, such as a curb or a guardrail, or even soft and uneven ground at the side of the roadway, like the shoulder. An- other trigger for rollover could be an attempt by the driver to make (1) VerDate Nov 24 2008 11:24 Aug 23, 2012 Jkt 000000 PO 00000 Frm 00005 Fmt 6633 Sfmt 6633 S:\GPO\DOCS\75609.TXT JACKIE 2 an overly aggressive turn of the vehicle, either at a high velocity or at a tight turning radius. ‘‘Roof crush’’ describes the vehicle’s roof as it is deformed during a rollover crash. When the vehicle’s structural integrity is reduced, window glass can break and the doors can open, which can further weaken the roof structure. According to some analysts, a collapsing roof can compromise all the vehicle’s safety features, including its seatbelts, window glazing, side-curtain airbags, and door retention. Partial or complete ejection of the occupants can result. And when a vehicle roof buckles inwards, occupants’ heads are exposed to the risk of head and neck injuries. On September 1, 1973, NHTSA issued its first roof crush stand- ard that took effect for passenger cars. The standard currently ap- plies to passenger cars and multipurpose passenger vehicles, trucks, and buses with a gross weight rating of 6,000 pounds or less. Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 216 establishes a min- imum roof strength standard for these vehicles. The purpose of the standard is to reduce deaths and injuries due to the crushing of the roof into
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