NHTSA Preparing to Require Stability Control Systems on Tractor Trailers

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The proposal, scheduled to be published by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration at the end of the year, would specify the details of a technology standard that that a growing number of fleets already have adopted voluntarily because they see safety benefits.

The agency has not said how it intends to handle the distinction between the two types of stability systems on the market, Roll Stability Control and Electronic Stability Control. But it has made clear that the proposal will cover only tractors, which according to experts indicates there is not likely to be a retrofit requirement.

The agency sees ample safety justification for the proposal. It says that rollover and loss-of-control crashes are responsible for 304 deaths and 2,738 injuries a year. And stability control systems are effective in up to 56% of single-vehicle tractor trailer rollover crashes, and up to 14% in crashes from skidding. From this, the agency estimates that the systems will save as many as 66 lives a year and prevent almost 1,000 injuries.

The systems would cost the industry up to $107 million a year, but that cost would be outweighed by up to $372 million in savings from preventing property damage and travel delays, the agency said.

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