Consumer advocates say tougher tests of vehicle roof strength would prevent many of the 10,000 rollover fatalities each year, but NHTSA officals say they're just being advo-scaredy-cat(e)s. (Whew, it took us like 20 minutes to come up with that one.) Advoc, er, watchdogs, are pushing the NHTSA to require a more strenuous test, that is, slamming the top of a subject vehicle with a steel plate at a force of 2.5 times its unloaded weight, not 1.5 times used in current tests. The biggest risk to drivers, they say, is being ejected from windows smashed by a rooftop hit — a situation that could be prevented by building stronger "A" pillars.
Watchdogs call for better roof-strength test [The Detroit News]
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