Beasley, Allen, Crow, Methvin, Portis & Miles, P.C.

After being bogged down by bureaucracy and industry concerns for years, federal automobile roof crush standards finally became tougher. U.S. Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood announced the new roof strength standards last week. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration says that the new standards, which are double the current standards for vehicles weighing up to 6,000 pounds, “will significantly strengthen vehicle roof standards and improve rollover crash protection.”

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KGTV of San Diego recently published the tragically characteristic story of Luis Pena, a California border patrol agent whose truck rolled over a year and a half ago while he was driving one night while on duty. His truck’s roof caved in, compacting Pena’s body and crushing his spine.

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For years, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers have resisted even the slightest boost in roof crush standards. Now, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety has stepped in to raise the bar on roof strength standards.

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An activist and advocate for higher automobile roof strength standards believes that the federal government’s latest delay will ultimately benefit the consumer.

As we have reported in the past, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), a branch of the Department of Transportation, decided in 2005 to boost its archaic standards for roof strength, issuing a deadline of mid-2008 to accomplish that.

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In November, we reported that federal U.S. standards for vehicle roof safety were dangerously low, and that the decision to raise the standards, even just to a level still inferior to that of many foreign auto manufacturers, has been continually delayed. Then, just yesterday we speculated as to whether a bailout of the auto industry would mean better, safer American cars.

Unfortunately, it looks as if the Department of Transportation is just as dysfunctional as the American auto industry in its ability to do the right thing … or anything at all.

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The American standard for automobile roof strength, which has been in effect since the 1970s, has been “a total, ineffective disaster,” according to automobile expert Byron Bloch in an investigative report by WBNS TV of Columbus, Ohio.

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Since his son Tyler’s death, Kevin Moody has been on a mission to get the roof strength standard, FMVSS 216, upgraded and convince Congress to pass new legislation regulating and mandating a new and adequate roof strength standard beyond what NHTSA, (National Highway Transportation Safety Administration) has proposed.

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