Reprinted from The Safety Record, Volume 8, Issue 3, November 2011 Last month, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Office of Defects Investigation opened a Preliminary Investigation into BMW 7-Series vehicles that roll away because the electronic ignition fails to shift the vehicle into Park when the driver leaves with the key fob. The [...]

Reprinted from The Safety Record, Volume 8, Issue 3, November 2011 New Child Dummies for Booster Seat Testing Offer Advancement – and Raise Significant Questions Acknowledging concerns about the biofidelity of the new HIII 6-year-old dummy, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration issued a Final Rule on Sept. 9 allowing manufacturers of child restraint systems [...]

Reprinted from The Safety Record, Volume 8, Issue 2, July 2011 FMVSS 213 Child Restraint Systems is an inadequate standard with a compliance test that bears no resemblance to what happens to children in a crash, according to a slew of child safety researchers at this year’s Enhanced Safety of Vehicles Conference. Some of the [...]

Reprinted from The Safety Record, Volume 7, Issue 3, November 2010 This summer, a British coroner made headlines when he determined that the death of a passenger in a rollover crash would have been averted if the vehicle’s tires hadn’t been 13 years old. Nazma Shaheen, a mother of two, died in May 2009, after [...]

Reprinted from The Safety Record, Volume 7, Issue 3, November 2010 WASHINGTON, D.C. – ABS brakes have been around since 1929; they were applied to automobiles in the early 1970s; today they are standard on many new vehicles and serve as the basis for electronic stability control systems. That they are effective is a matter [...]

Reprinted from The Safety Record, Volume 7, Issue 2, June 2010 WASHINGTON, DC — The U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission has moved forward with its mandate to create a publicly accessible consumer products complaints database by posting a proposed rulemaking outlining the details of the new system.

Reprinted from The Safety Record, Volume 7, Issue 1, April 2010 WASHINGTON, D.C. – Eleven years after the National Transportation Safety Board recommended that the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration establish performance standards for school bus occupant protection systems in all types of collisions, the NTSB removed it from the top-ten list of most wanted [...]

Reprinted from The Safety Record, Volume 6, Issue 6, December 2009 WASHINGTON, D.C. – After decades of successfully maintaining the status quo, motor coach manufacturers and operators are about to be regulated as part of a concerted approach to improve motorcoach safety.

Reprinted from The Safety Record, Volume 6, Issue 6, December 2009 WASHINGTON D.C. – At least a year past a Congressional deadline and several years behind its own schedule, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has proposed a new ejection-mitigation standard that would compel automakers to improve their side airbag designs to fully cover up [...]

Reprinted from The Safety Record, Volume 6, Issue 3, June / July 2009 WASHINGTON, D.C. – The day that gave the tire industry the shakes has come. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is now seeking comment on its tire fuel efficiency, maintenance and safety consumer education program.