In response to growing concerns about incompatibilities between cars and light trucks (pickups and SUVs) when they crash with each other, representatives from automobile manufacturers, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, and other international vehicle safety researchers agreed in 2003 to work together to develop voluntary standards to enhance vehicle-to-vehicle crash compatibility. Two technical working groups were formed to identify vehicle design features that exacerbate the crash incompatibilities between cars and light trucks in front-to-front and front-to-side crashes and to develop countermeasures to reduce the problems. These countermeasures then would be adopted on a voluntary basis by the participating automakers. This paper presents analyses of the risks in calendar years 2001-04 to car drivers in crashes with 2000-03 model light trucks complying with the front-end matching requirements versus those not in compliance. (Author/publisher)
Abstract