I never thought I’d be citing Auto Body Repair News on this blog, but they recently ran an article titled, “New roof-strength regulations delayed amid controversy over testing, proposed standards.” This article has a lot of interesting things to say about the proposed new standards for rollover safety and the tests used by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the automakers to evaluate it.
According to Stephen Forrest, a former General Motors engineer who is now a principal with Safety Analysis & Forensics Engineering (SAFE) in Goleta, Calif, “The 216 test is pretty much useless: Even NHTSA admits it won’t have any significant change.” Instead, he suggests using “inverted drop” and “dolly rollover” tests.
