When a passenger vehicle collides with a large truck or trailer rig, this mismatch is further aggravated when the passenger vehicle continues beneath the rear or side of the taller truck. The are called truck underride crashes and often decapitate the upper half of the passenger vehicle and its occupant.

In the United States, there is a new federal motor vehicle safety standard requiring a rear underride prevention guard for newly manufactured truck trailers beginning in Januarry 1998. The 22-inch maximum permitted height was based on 30 mph crash tests, yet contradicts prior NHTSA 35-to-40 mph crash test research that recommended an 18-20 inch height as necessary to protect smaller vehicles in 40 mph crashes. The guard strength is minimal and the test is only a slow-psh on an exemplar guard.

The new regulation also totally ignores the side underride hazard, which accounts for almost half of the U.S. fatalities in underride accidents each year.

Using existing technology, there are many feasible designs for rear underride guards and side underride guards that are effective, light weight and economical.

Such guards can be utilized on new trucks and trailers, as well as being capable of being retrofit to existing in-use trucks and trailers. Among the explored designs are (A) the use of Belleville spring-washer stacked pistons, (B) the use of rigid foam-filled convoluted tube structures, (C) the use of recycled non-metallic synthetics, and (D) cable enrapment platforms.

And what of the requirement for hamonization of vehicle safety standards, so that all memeber nations utilize the same underride guard requirements, and thereby impose a reduced burden for variety among the vehicles manufacturers?

Can there be a singular international safety standard for truck underride guards, and if so, it should be based on the most effective requirements, rather than compromised to meet the least-challenging requirements?